Crossing Oceans
by 9thDimen
Summary: Yusuke's daughter is destined to be the new spirit detective but what if she has other plans for her future? What will happen when she follows her own path, a path that can lead to her own destruction as well as everyone she loves? HieiXOC Chapter 8 finally up! Later KuramaXOC
1. Chapter One: Admiration

_Crossing Oceans  
_

Chapter One: Admiration

The third Makai tournament came early this year. Demons of all sorts waited impatiently to place their name in the drawing as they waited outside the doors of the stadium. Yelling could be heard a mile away as Yusuke finally came in view of the magnificent stadium he eagerly awaited this year. A toothy grin grew on his face as he took the sight in, he could have sworn he felt a beat of excitement in his motionless heart.

Fingers curled around his leg and he looked down at a hooded, small figure that clung tightly to his leg. Yusuke began to laugh, "Don't tell me you're scared now?"

Near the entrance of the stadium Hiei turned around and looked off into the distance, his gaze settling on in the surrounding forest. Mukuro glanced over at him noticing his sudden movement. "Is there something wrong?" She asked a slight purr present in her tone that only Hiei could catch. He turned back toward the doors and crossed his arms closing his eyes as he did so, a smile creeping to his lips.

"Yusuke has finally arrived," Hiei couldn't hide the smile that was present in his own voice.

Mukuro smiled at his sudden turn in mood, but her voice didn't change when she spoke once more. "You haven't seen him since the last tournament; I can tell you're excited in more than one way."

Hiei didn't say anything but instead acted like she hadn't said a word. He wouldn't admit to the woman that he was stoic to be pitted against his former team member, not only that, but to see how much his strength had changed since the last tournament. It had been a full five years since then, and Hiei knew that he usually doubles his strength within a year's time. After five years, his power should have tripled. But, of course, Yusuke wasn't the only one who's been training mercilessly the last couple of years, Hiei also tripled in strength. He figured this year would be a quick tournament with him reigning victorious.

"I can see the difference in you Hiei, I'm starting to grow jealous," she only teased, but Hiei could hear the bit of resentment in her voice. "To bad I can't bring that excitement into bed."

Hiei, yet again, ignored her, but a small smile crept to his lips as the memories of last night resurfaced.

When a familiar presence began to walk over toward where he was standing, Hiei opened his eyes and watched as Kurama made his way toward the two.

"Ah, Kurama," Mukuro began, taking a step toward the red head. The last couple of years Kurama had visited Hiei from time to time, in his visits he began to show a friendship towards Mukuro something Hiei could care less about. "I didn't think you were participating this year?" She inquired, cocking her head to the side in slight confusion.

Kurama nodded his head confirming that she was correct. "I'm only here to speculate and see who our new king shall be; I do not wish to attend."

Mukuro nodded her head as the two began to converse about whatever nonsense they had on their minds. Kurama smiled at a comment Mukuro made about Hiei, then his eyes shifted to his left as he stopped in mid-sentence. He then gave his full attention toward the direction Hiei was staring at earlier, a disbelief look plastered on his face. The two followed his stare and watched as Yusuke and his fellow monks began to walk over toward the trio. He gave them his famous toothy grin when they all noticed him walking up. But Kurama's eyes shifted down toward his leg at a figure in a black hoodie and white, loose fighting pants similar to Yusuke's yellow ones was walking slightly behind Yusuke obscured in view from Hiei and Mukuro. The little figure had its head hung low as it walked, trying not to draw to much attention to itself. But Kurama knew better who this little figure was; the disbelief would not escape his features.

"Well," Yusuke began ignoring Kurama's light glare. "Isn't it my favorite three demons?" His eyes meet with Hiei's who still had his arms crossed but looked at Yusuke with challenging eyes. "Nice to see you actually grew an inch since the last time I saw you." Yusuke teased as he placed both of his hands on his hips and began to snicker when Hiei started to glare up at him. "What are you know? Finally reached five feet, yet?"

Hiei glared deepened but didn't reply with his usual snarky remarks, he did in fact grow two inches since they last meet, but the stupid idiotic former spirit detective was an idiot beyond belief. Hiei, is now 5'5", and if Yusuke would remember correctly the last Makai tournament, Yusuke almost asked the exact same thing in which Mukuro stated (who was listening in on their conversation like usual), that Hiei was indeed 5'3".

The little person below Yusuke stepped away from Yusuke, tilting its head up ever so slightly and looked around. The large brown eyes scanned the area taking in every demon that was around them. Its mouth hung slightly open as it watched a group of demons mouthing off to one of the door keepers. "What the hell do you mean I can't enter yet!" A demon with dark blue skin, horns, and what looked to be five eyes on his head all staring at the door keeper, each eye wide with rage.

"I-I'm sorry sir, but everything is not prepared yet, just ten more minutes and you may take your place in the ring," The keeper stuttered, he was a smaller demon, probably a low D class by the look of him. He looked to be human with normal brown hair, blue eyes, but what made him demon was his long lion like tail that swished back and forth nervously as he spoke to the stronger demon before him.

The hooded, small person walked over to the two quarreling demons. It looked up at the two in awe; this was the first time the little person ever saw two demons before. It wasn't until about a minute of staring at the two demons did they notice the short hooded person standing there. The demon who was in a rage glared down at it his mouth turning up into a sneer revealing many rows of sharp teeth. "What the hell are you looking at pipsqueak?"

The little person looked up at him with new angry brown eyes, which turned to slits. The little person opened its mouth to say something when a hand covered the mouth preventing it from saying something it would later regret.

Yusuke put his hand around the extremely short person mouth, and in return felt something sharp bit down on his hand followed by a frustrated squeaking noise. "Ouch! What the- what the heck are you doing?" He yelled at the little person ignoring the demon that was looking at him with complete and utter shock. The demon knew very well who this half-breed was and took a step back away from him to stun to even say a word. Yusuke, on the other hand, just walked away from the two demons ignoring them completely and back to the trio he considered his friends. He let go of the little person mouth and held it by the collar of the sweat shirt.

It, or should we say she after the profanity coming from her mouth which could not be mistaken to be a very young female child, began to squirm in his grasp kicking her legs out as well as her arms making her anger grow. "Let me go you stupid piece of…"

"Hey!" Yusuke said, trying his best not to swear in front of the child. He shook the child ever so slightly up and down trying to get her attention. "Who the heck taught you to speak like that?"

Kurama, Hiei, and Mukuro looked at Yusuke like it wasn't hard to figure out where the child got her profanity from. "Does Keiko know?" Kurama couldn't help but ask only confirming to Hiei and Mukuro that this is indeed Yusuke's child, little girl to be exact.

Yusuke scratch his head and set the child on the ground, but still had a firm grip on her collar of her hoodie. "Um, uh…." He began to trip over her words this discomfort of the question clear on his face as he looked lost for words. "Yeeessss…" Kurama gave him a look making Yusuke re-think what he said and added, "And no."

"So it's both?" Kurama asked, a little bit of a sarcastic tone present.

Yusuke scratched his head harder and gave them his famous toothy grin for the second time that day. "Well, I told her we were going to Genkai's for the week… you know…"

"So you lied?" Kurama said matter-of-factly.

Yusuke sunk his shoulders in defeat. "Okay, okay, yes I lied, but it was for a good reason." He pointed his finger up like what he did was a good idea a small snicker escaping his lips.

"So, risking your daughter's life was a good idea?"

"Well, I… Uh…"

"Hey!" Yusuke daughter called up to the two arguing adults. "You know, I can take care of myself!" she yelled up, the same toothy, cocky grin copied on her face as she pointed her thumb towards herself. Yusuke looked down at his daughter and snickered, rubbing her head with the palm of his hand. She growled up and him and pushed his hand away, glaring up at her father with disgust. "I'm being serious!" She looked at everyone around her, each have a bemused face on, excluding Kurama who was still mad at Yusuke for bringing his own daughter to the Makai at such a young age. "You'll see, when I'm old enough I'll beat you all up at the Makai tournament." Pointing at each one of them and making sure her pointed finger stayed the longest on both Hiei and Mukruo. Why, she herself didn't know. Then she turned toward her father and pointed a finger at him. "You'll be the first!"

Yusuke burst out laughing, holding his stomach at his own daughters' outburst. He sat down next to her and placed both hands on his knees as he stared at his daughters face. Her face grew redder with anger when her father laughed, he reached out to grab her head to give her a noggie, but she pulled away when his arm swung toward her head and pointed her finger at him again. This time, though, she grabbed her wrist with her other hand and got in a stance that she saw her father do countless times when he would show her his spirit gun. He had been trying to teach her the spirit gun, but for someone her age and, of course, having a human mother, he doesn't expect her to have any spiritual power until she reached the age of ten – at the least.

But he was wrong.

He watched her with a cocky smile as he sat there crossing his arms and legs. A little ball of light formed at her finger tip, and Yusuke smile grew into an open mouth surprise. He could actually sense her spirit energy channeling through her arm and into the tip of her finger. He watched in amazement for his daughter, his little six year old girl, performing the spirit gun right before his eyes.

And, of course, aimed toward him.

"SPIRIT GUN!" She yelled, flying back from the little bit of spirit energy that shot out, about the size of a softball whizzing through the air and hitting Yusuke square in the forehead. He fell backwards onto his back, stunned still that his daughter actually pulled it off. He grabbed his forehead with his right hand, and pushed himself up with his left. He rubbed it and looked over to where his daughter landed; she shot up and began to rub the back of her head viciously from the impact of head hitting ground after she shot off her first shot. Her noise was wrinkled up and her eyes were closed shut as she crouched down and held the back of her head in pain.

Yusuke began to laugh and took his hand off of his forehead. He got to his feet and ran over to his daughter, picking her up and twirling her around laughing, "You did it! You actually did it!" He yelled with glee. She blinked at him for a second, and then her mouth opened into a smile as she laughed with him yelling that she did it as well.

Mukuro watched the show of affection that Yusuke had for his daughter, a spit of jealously shooting through her, but she dismissed it. She was glad to see that Yusuke loved his daughter, but that wasn't the reason why she was staring at them intently, or more toward the daughter that she hadn't had the slightest clue what her name was. She was lightly amazed that a six year old human could perform a move such as that. She knew how much training Yusuke had to endure just to learn to channel his spirit energy into the point of his finger. How much has he been training his daughter to do such a thing, and it surprised her still that she would even train at such a young age. Mukuro smiled at the young child, she will grow up to be quite strong if she keeps on whatever training regimen Yusuke is pitting her thru.

There was a loud peep noise heard coming from the stadium doors. Everyone turned and looked as one of the door keepers began to speak into a microphone. "You may start heading in now; the tournament will begin in a couple of minutes after your name has been drawn and put into a group. May the best demon win!" And with that everyone around them began to head inside.

Yusuke placed his daughter on his shoulders and began to walk with the rest of the group inside. The stadium didn't change in the least bit; there was still a large screen at the far end, the surrounding seats that were already filled with demons waiting for the fighting to begin, and the special seats where the judges will be sitting, (Even though he had no idea why they needed judges in the first place when anything is allowed in the battle ring.).

"Wow, look at that daddy!" Yusuke's daughter yelled in his ear looking at the giant screen making him cringe in slight pain. "I've never seen a TV that big before! Why can't we have a big TV?" She asked, hanging her head over his to look into his eyes. She jutted her bottom lip out and gave him her best puppy-dog-eye look.

Yusuke laughed at the attempt to make him feel bad for her. "Yeah, sure, like we can fit that into our living room. And besides, I've been asking Keiko to get that new flat screen TV that doesn't even compare to that giant screen and she still says no."

His daughter snorted but didn't say anything more.

"So, who do you suppose will be watching your daughter when you battle?" Kurama asked, already knowing the answer to his question but just want to get what was to come later out of the way.

Yusuke looked at him sheepishly. "If you don't mind?"

Kurama sighed but nodded his head anyways. He didn't have anything against the child; in fact he is the child's tutor. He didn't mind the job, especially since he's been rather bored the last couple of months. And to his surprise, the child had a knack for academics which her mother must have passed down to her. Unfortunately though, that's the only thing she received from her mothers' DNA. She was almost like her father's clone, just a different sex. She loved to fight, brawl, and back talk to her teacher, and then throws a fit when she doesn't get what she wants.

Kurama extended his hands out as he watched Yusuke's daughter place both of her feet on her father's shoulders, readying herself to jump at him. She did exactly what he thought she would do and landed in his arms. She looked back at her father and waved back as she watched him walk off waving goodbye.

Kurama turned around toward the audience. He scanned the rows, and rows, of demons until he spotted Koenma and Botan. She waved to him and patted the seat next to her. Kurama smiled up at the two.

Yusuke's daughter stood in front of Kurama and watched as they began to draw names. She watched as each name was yelled through the speakerphone. Kurama watched as well from his seat next to Botan. Botan turned her head toward him and covered her mouth with her hand as she whispered, "Is that who I think it is?"

Kurama nodded and whispered back, "I'm afraid so, and," he said cutting her off before she can ask another questions. "I really cannot imagine why he would do such a thing."

"Oh," Botan said, and leaned back into her seat and watched the child's eyes glow with excitement.

"WOOOHOOO!" The child screamed when her fathers' name was finally called causing the demons around them to glare at her. Kurama grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to him where he kept his firm grip. "Hey! What's the big idea?" She said trying to push off of him.

"If you don't calm down soon, I will be forced to take you back to human world immediately." Kurama "politely" threatened as he gave her a hard stare. The child huffed and crossed her arms but didn't struggle any longer. She leaned against his leg and watched as the contestants where all sent off to different battle grounds. The big screen buzzed to life and showed twenty-two different groups waiting for the buzzer to go off so they can begin the fight.

The screen began to count down, making a noise whenever it changed numbers. Yusuke's child began to count down with it. "10, 9, 8, 7…"

Kurama couldn't help but smile, even with all the disgusting demons she witnessed today; she doesn't seem fazed in the least bit. Matter of fact, she seems to be more eager than ever about something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"3, 2, 1!" She screamed the last number and her eyes grew wide with wonder as she watched the demon slaughter each other on the screen. Of course, her eyes were glued on group 14 which her father was in. In a matter of seconds every demon in his group fell to their knees in defeat, not one losing their life. "Wow, did you see that Kurama?" She squealed. Kurama tightened his hand on her shoulder telling her to be quiet.

The child's eyes then went to Mukuro's screen which had the same result, then Hiei's which she didn't get to see what he did because all demons where already on the ground passed out and he didn't seem to have broken a sweat. "I can't wait to fight in the tournament," Yusuke's child said with disappointment that she couldn't fight now. "This seems fun."

Koenma decided to chime in and said, "She's just like her father isn't she?"

Kurama nodded. "Indeed."

"So, has she shown any hint of spiritual energy lately?"

Kurama's eyes shifted to the side to look at Koenma. Kurama knew he wasn't just asking out of curiosity. "Yes, outside of the stadium she performed the spirit gun on Yusuke's forehead."

Koenma at first didn't say anything as he thought about the new information. His hand went to his chin as he thought deeply about the matter. "That's – interesting." Was all he said before he watched the matched finally turn into one against one.

Yusuke's child watched as her father made it back to the stadium below her. He meet up with Hiei and Mukuro and began to converse with them. "Who are those two people?" She asked Kurama.

"Mukuro is the woman and Hiei is the…"

"Short one?" She finished for him. Botan began to snicker and Kurama couldn't help but smile. Yes, she was indeed her father's daughter.

Names began to flicker across the screen showing who's fighting who. Yusuke was pitted against the demon who was in group six, Hiei who was in group two is going against someone in group 6, and Mukuro who was in group fifteen is being placed against a demon in group one. "The demons they are going against are weak. This isn't going to be much fun!" Yusuke's child pouted, crossing her arms in distaste.

"Wait," Koenma began leaning forward in his seat. "You can sense their energy levels?"

The child shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, maybe."

"There's no maybe only a yes or no answer."

The child turned toward Koenma and stuck her tongue out and pulled the skin under her eye down. "None of your beeswax, stupid head!"

Koenma's right eye began to twitch and small vein popped on his forehead as he stared the little brat down. She was far too much like her father.

The fight began again and the child turned her attention back to the screen as she watched her father with amazement. His opponent was weaker than him but still had a couple of moves up his sleeve making Yusuke having to practically dance his way through the match, dodging every attack. But, unfortunately for his opponent, he was finished off with a spirit gun blast making him fly far up into the sky and out of sight. Yusuke put his hand over his eyes to block the sun as he watched to see where his opponent went, but to no avail. He was blasted off far into the distance.

"Wow!" The child gaped at her own father in amazement. "That was amazing! I can't wait to grow that strong, too!" She said with cocky confidence.

Kurama nodded. "Maybe you will one day." This made the child's eyes sparkle from his words. She was truly enjoying herself, and that got Kurama worried. Like Yusuke, he was afraid that she would grow to love the Makai, and he didn't doubt that she was already showing affection toward this world already. It was a mistake for Yusuke to let his only child come to the Makai, now she won't be able to wait to come back and visit this treacherous land. That could lead to complications in her years of development.

After a couple more matches Hiei and Yusuke were pitted against each other. Hiei gave Yusuke a run for his money; they both grew significantly in strength and power. Yusuke's child watched in amazement, but her eyes couldn't follow along as well as everyone else's and this upset her. She kept on asking Kurama what was going on and he explained with detail of how the fight was turning out.

The two suddenly stopped in the middle of their fight, both looked pretty beaten up as they panted heavily. Then, Hiei began to unwrap his arm showing off a tattoo shaped as a dragon that ran across his arm. "It's looks like he'll be using the Dragon of The Darkness Flame against Yusuke," Botan said as she watched the match intently.

The child looked up at Kurama. "What's that?"

Kurama smiled down at her. "You'll see soon enough."

She turned back toward the screen not daring to blink her eyes when she saw Hiei's arm glowing a black light. He brought his arm back behind him and the black light soon turned into fire as it engulfed his arm. Suddenly, his arm shot forward and a large black dragon came forth from his arm and began to grow in size as it traveled with destruction toward Yusuke.

"Why isn't he moving?" Koenma asked concerned for his former spirit detective.

Yusuke pointed his finger at the dragon not showing any hint of fear whatsoever as the dragon charged for him. His finger began to glow, the ball of energy at the end grew in size, bigger than anything the child ever saw him use, and blasted it at the dragons head. The dragon opened its mouth screeching as it did so and swallowed the energy whole. For a second, the child thought the black dragon had won, but she watched as the energy traveled through the dragon and break through heading toward Hiei. The dragon fell only missing Yusuke centimeters before it halted then disappeared. But for Hiei, he wasn't expecting the blast to make it through and it hit him square on engulfing him completely.

He flew backwards and went through the mountain that was behind him. Yusuke yelled out his name and ran toward where Hiei had landed.

"He used too much," Botan said as she covered his eyes.

Kurama shook his head. "Hiei wouldn't fall that easily - knocked out, maybe."

Yusuke ran over to Hiei's motionless body that somehow made it through the mountain in one piece. He crouched down next to him and flipped him over so he was on his back. Hiei's chest moved up and down slowly, he was indeed knocked out and still alive. Relief swept through Yusuke's face as he looked down toward his friend.

Kurama nodded his head in confirmation of his last statement. He looked down to where the child was at to see what her reaction was –

But she wasn't there.

Kurama stood up instantly and glanced around him. She wasn't anywhere to be seen. "What is it, Kurama?" Botan asked confused by his sudden movement.

"She disappeared," Kurama stated and ran off to go look for her. She shouldn't have gotten far, why she would run off without him sensing it was beyond belief for him.

He just made it to the stairs when he finally heard her voice. His heart began to relax when he caught sight of her, but then froze realizing where she was at and what she was saying.

"That's my father!" she yelled in the middle of the stadium and she looked up at the big screen with respect. The demon around her stared at her, they were the ones who have fallen and are now waiting in the stadium to see who is victorious. "Yeah that's right, he beat every one of you with his own fists!" She gloated. Kurama ran down as fast as he could, pushing past demons as he did so. This was bad, extremely bad. Most of those demons hated Yusuke and everything he stands for and she just stated that she was his daughter. It would be the perfect time to get their revenge on the former spirit detective.

"None of you can stack up to him and when I grow up to be stronger I'll be ruling every single one of you!" She pointed at all the demons around her. Her father's toothy grin only pissed off demons even more when they saw it on her face.

"Well isn't this nice," said one of the demons with many sharp teeth and only one eye in the middle of his head. "For Yusuke to bring us dinner." He began to droll at the thought of devouring her as he stalked over toward the defenseless girl.

"Dinner, HA!" laughed another as he looked down at the puny girl. He was rather large and looked like a giant turtle. "She doesn't even measure up to be a snake."

The child growled. "I'll show you." She pointed her finger at the turtle demon and shot at him. The softball size spirit energy flew thought he air toward him but he smacked it away like it was a fly. Two spirit guns in one day? It was starting to take a toll on her. She, after all, just acquired this new ability.

"Pathetic," The turtle demon laughed at her pathetic attempt of a spirit gun. "But I'll enjoy eating you." The child gritted her teeth and took a step back, then another. One thing she learned from her father was to never show fear because then they will know that you are defeated. She glared at the turtle demon, but took another step back. Something grabbed her by the collar and pulled her up far into the air. Unlike her father when he did so earlier, this person had a tight grip around the collar chocking her as she hung there.

"Mmmm, smells delicious!" The demon flicked his tongue out and licked the child's cheek. She tried to punch back but the demon caught her arm and brought it to his mouth. "This is going to hurt you more than it will for me. Actually, this is going to be great pleasure for myself, and complete torture for you." The demon opened its large mouth but before he could bite down something hit him in the back making him go flying as the child fell into a strangers arm.

The child looked over at the demon that went flying. He landed a distance away and shot back up onto his feet glaring at her savior. She looked up at the man who saved her. Her eyes first fell on the spiky, grayish blue hair, tan skin, small squinted eyes, and a smile that was all to flattering for the young child. Her face flushed from both embarrassment and the small crush she suddenly developed while staring up at his friendly face.

"Kujou," Kurama said with relief when he ran up to the two, but his relief soon turned to anger toward the small child. "What do you think you were doing? Do you have any idea what the outcome of your action could have brought forth?" He wasn't the scolding type, but the worry he just had to endure only angered him more. This child doesn't know a thing about this world and he's afraid she's going to learn the hard way.

"Kujou?" Yusuke asked with a quizzical look, his head cocking to the side as he looked down at his daughter in his hands. He just made it back from the arena and placed Hiei in the infirmary when he noticed a crowd of demons huddle near the center of the stadium. Out of curiosity he walked over to see what the commotion was about. He was more surprised to see his daughter in the arms of Kujou, and demons glaring daggers at his daughter. Then, realization hit him when he realized where his daughter was located… In the stadium… Surrounded by demons. "Aria Genkai Urameshi! What the hell do you think you are doing?" His scolding sounded harsher than Kurama's. "I told you to keep a low profile, you remember what the consequences were if you didn't!" His eyes held hers showing the deep disappointment for his daughter.

Aria pushed herself out of Kujou's arms and dropped down to her feet and held her head low. "I'm sorry, dad, it's just…" She looked up at him, her eyes shaking ever so slightly as she held in her tears with all her might. But her eyes also showed her admiration of what she witnessed so far that day. "When I saw you fight it was so amazing! I-I never seen you like that before daddy, and I got over excited, I-I wanted to…" She held her head low and closed her eyes, he could hear her sniffling. Yusuke realized she was trying to hide her tears from everyone around her. "I want that so badly." She looked down at her hands and then squeezed them shut. "I want to be just like you when I get older," She yelled at him, tears threatening to escape.

Yusuke face began to soften as he stared at his daughter, the admiration she's showing him. This was the first time she actually saw him fight, and he never saw his own daughter look at him with such pride. He lightly smiled down at her and walked over to her scooping her up into his arms and hugging her. "Fine," his said sighing with exasperation. "You're off the hook this time, but next time I won't go so easy on you."

She buried her head into his shoulder and nodded. She wasn't moving as she hugged him but Yusuke could fell the shirt of his sleeve begin to grow wet.

"Okay!" Koto's voice boomed over the speaker breaking the father and daughter bond that everyone was witnessing in the middle of the stadium. "The final match is finally here, Urameshi versus Enki!"

Yusuke set Aria down onto her feet. Her eyes were dry but slightly blood shot and she smiled up at her father and said, "If you don't win this fight I'm going to kick your ass when I see you again!"

"She has a wide variety of vocabulary words for child her age," Kujou whispered to Kurama.

"Indeed," Was Kurama's only reply, he had no idea.

Yusuke turned around and glared at all the demons around them. His lips turned up into a sneer and yelled, "If any of you lay a finger on my daughter, I swear it will be the last thing you regret in this lifetime!" And with that he walked off making the demons around back off and as he walked to battle Enki for the title of king. Aria watched her father walk off, the admiration still present in her stare when he finally disappeared through the crowd of demons.

There, she decided no matter what she was going to grow stronger than her father and it doesn't matter what it takes she was going to defeat him when it's her turn to participate in the Makai tournament.

* * *

**(Okay, what do you guys thing? This will be the last "serious" story I'm going to write in the Yu Yu Hakusho fathom. When I mean serious I mean not a parody. Yes, I'm thinking about writing a parody, short of course, but I had it stuck in my head for the last couple of months. I know it's a little fast paced, tell me if I should keep the pace or slow it down a bit, give more details etc. I do plan on giving more detail once Aria grows older since most chapters will be centering around her. Also, I know that this chapter jumps around a lot between characters, which will change… hopefully. **

**Okay, please review if you like. The more reviews a story has the more visitors it gets, not hits, visitors. I don't base it all on how many reviews a chapter gets before I update, but on how many visitors. And the more reviews a story has the more interested people will get in wanting to read my story. So, please review! I am the number one reviewing whore as well, if you didn't know. Tell me what you think of this story.**

**Warning: Rating may change in future if I get that far. All depends on you guys, :)**

**Update: 6/6/12, I added Hiei's height thingy somewhere in the beginning of this chapter. I guess in an art book of him when Hiei reached the Makai tournament he was 5'3". Which makes me think that Hiei is a lot younger than what people speculate him as. I will be working this into my story but, to make things clear, in my story demons age a lot slower than humans, just so you know I won't be making him like fifteen or something stupid like that.)**


	2. Chapter Two: First DVD

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Two: First DVD

"I told you I was going to kick your ass if you lose that fight!" The six, brown eyed little girl ranted as she walked with her father out of the stadium with his "friends". Her hands flapped through the air as she continued to chastise her father about how he could have lost that fight, and that if he threw the match there were going to be _severed_ consequences.

Yusuke laughed at his daughters attempt to sound badass. "You mean severe consequences, not severed."

Aria's face grew red as she glared up at her father again causing him to laugh once more. Yusuke always found his daughters little tantrum to be extremely hilarious. Too bad Keiko's wasn't on the same playing field, her tantrum's are – well, frankly just plan out scary for Yusuke. Hopefully, when Aria matures more, her tantrums won't become as ruthless as her mothers. Yusuke can only imagine what Keiko would do to him if she found out he brought Aria to the Makai.

A visible shiver ran down his spin as the thought crossed his mind. Aria was the first to notice, but before she could open her mouth to say something she noticed someone was walking over toward them. He had both of his arms behind his red, fluffed out hair, a tooth slightly hanging out of his closed mouth smile, and an unmistakable horn placed right in the middle of his forehead. "JJJJIIIIIINNNNNN!" Aria screamed with delight as she ran over to the wind demon and jumped into his arms.

"It's a fancy meetin' you here Aria, where yer father at if you don' mind me askin'?" Jin asked allowing Aria to give him a hug. Aria always found Jin to be her favorite. She always asked him what sort of adventures he had as of lately when he came to visit Genkai's. And, like usual, Jin would give her an ear full, it was surprising that Aria could keep up with his fast pace he considered as talking.

"Hey Jin, how's it going?" Yusuke asked as he walked up to the two.

"Ah, Urameshi, I've been lookin' for ya since the beginnin' of this here tournament but haven' had the time ta actually look, this year went by too fast, don't ya think?" Jin placed Aria back on the ground where she began to run circles around the two making swishing wind sounds.

Yusuke laughed. "Yeah, not that many contestant this year, there were only, what, five-hundred or so who attended?"

Jin smiled a crock smile but when he opened his mouth to say something Aria interrupted him. "That's was so cool what you did back there, Jin!" She began to twirl her arm in a circle copying one of Jin's air attacks. "And the flying! Ah, I wanna fly!" Her eyes were sparking as she acted out the scene of the fight Jin had, but unfortunately lost too. Then her eyes landed on Hiei where she ran up to him and punched the air in front of him while yelling, "Dragon of the Darkness Flame! AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Hiei stared down at her as she continued to punch the air in front of him with her slow, childish movements. "That was so cool, I wanna learn that move!" She stopped her nonsense of punishing the air and turned her sparkling eyes on Hiei.

"Hn, if you want to kill yourself then go on ahead," Hiei said ignoring the stare he was receiving from Yusuke.

Aria's sparkling eyes turned into a glare. "You don't think I can do it…" His only reply was a hn, that made Aria angry. "I'll show you," she yelled up at him while pointing her finger at his face. "When I get older I'll master all of you and everyone elsers moves." (Elsers?)

"I highly doubt that."

Before Aria began yelling again Yusuke came over and put his hand over her mouth. In return, for the second time, she bit down on his fingers. "Ow!" Yusuke yelled with frustration as he brought his daughter up into her arms trying to calm her down. "Why the hell do you always have to bit me!"

Mukuro stepped into the conversation; a smile graced her lips as she watched the child struggle in her father's grip. "She has a strong fighting spirit Urameshi; I believe she will grow to be a strong warrior if you let her."

Yusuke glanced down at his daughter that wouldn't cease with the struggle. "A strong fighting spirit? Yeah, I can see that." But he was no longer smiling as something crossed his mind. He turned away from the two for a second and put his daughter on the ground, but still had a firm grip on her wrist. "Go and socialize with Jin again, I need to talk to these two about something you wouldn't understand."

"But dad…" Aria whined.

"No buts," he said putting a finger to her lips and giving her a stern look. "Now go and if you run off one more time I won't be giving you a second chance."

Aria huffed with frustration but nodded her head anyways and ran back over to Jin and Kurama, and the three monks Yusuke brought with him. The Jin and Kurama were talking about something but Yusuke didn't care at the moment as he watched his daughter tug on Jin's pants and ask him a question about the tournament. Yusuke turned his attention back to Mukuro and Hiei, a serious tone about him. "Binky breath wants to make her the new Spirit Detective when she's old enough."

"And this bothers you?" Hiei asked finding it strange that the former Spirit Detective wouldn't agree to the terms.

Yusuke glanced back at his daughter and sighed. "I dunno, I just – I just don't want her to go through what I had to go through… Or what Sensui went through."

Hiei also glanced over at his daughter, she was punching the air again as she explained everything she saw in the tournament. When Jin made a comment about how she acted so much like her father a toothy grin, the exact same one Yusuke had grew on her face, and her eyes sparkling ever so slightly. She had deep respect for her father, Hiei could see it written all over her face every time someone mentions Yusuke's name when he wasn't around. "I doubt she'll go crazy."

Mukuro nodded in agreement. "If she's anything like you, and might I add she's really starting to shape up to your personality, then it would be a great learning experience for the child."

Yusuke scratched his head as he pondered over the idea, and then shook his head. "I'm not going to worry about it, when she's old enough it's her decision if she wants to work for binky breath or not."

Mukuro smiled. "And you're going to train her in the mean time?"

Yusuke brought his attention back to the two, his old cocky grin present once more. "Well, yeah, who else with my strength and skill would be able to teach her?'

"Strength, sure, but I wouldn't flatter yourself when speaking of your skill, Urameshi," Hiei chastised.

Yusuke glared down at his short friend. "Yeah, well at least I don't need a booster seat when sitting in a car!"

"Don't push it, Urameshi," Hiei growled between clenched teeth. Mukuro, on the other hand, began to chuckle at the two friends little bicker.

Aria ran up to her father and began to tug on his pants to get his attention. Yusuke looked down at her and she grinned up at him. "I wanna be in the next tournament! Please, please, …" She went on and on and on.

Yusuke bent down and grabbed his daughters shoulders making her shut up as she looked at him with expectation. "Are you willing to train your ass off? Because the only way you will participate is if your powers shape up to an S class demon. You understand?"

Aria shook her head wildly, her eyes sparkling with excitement and desire to grow stronger. "Yeeeessssssssss!"

Yusuke grinned with a small chuckle. "All right then, whenever you don't have school I expect to see you training. You never know, you might grow stronger than your old man."

Aria's grin grew and she threw her arms around her father's neck. "I will become stronger than you and all of your friends!" Then she looked up to Hiei and Mukuro and stuck her tongue at the both of them. "And I'll become taller than you, shorty!" She said referring to Hiei.

This made Hiei's eye slightly twitch with irritation. "You should be glad your father is present at the moment."

And with that, and some more fooling around in the Makai, (Yusuke going back to his castle to gloat about his daughters to the rest of the monks that decided not to join the tournament this year, and then meeting up with Enki to discuss about the next Makai tournament which they decided in a five year time span this time instead of three.), Yusuke and his daughter finally made it back to the human world. Thankfully, they were only gone for the weekend so Yusuke hoped to go that Keiko wouldn't suspect a thing.

Yusuke looked down at his daughter as they walked down the streets of his hometown/city; each step she took seemed – different. He noticed that there was a certain confident glow about her, almost like she had a goal set in mind and was determined to accomplish it. Yusuke gently smiled down at her and looked back up straight ahead toward their house that he and Keiko owned. He doubted by the age of eleven she would be ready for the next Makai tournament, but he was excited to see how much she would develop until then. Anyways, if she somehow magically was ready, he wouldn't allow it. She was far too young to be considering such a thing anyways, (And is also a human. Only demons could attend the Makai tournament).

In a way, he was proud of his daughter. She accomplished the spirit gun without hardly any training, and he can now see that she did have a fighter spirit. But in the back of his mind, something he shouldn't ignore but choose to anyways, he felt something ominous for the future to come. But, knowing Yusuke, he left it in the back of his mind and ignored it completely. It was probably nothing.

* * *

_Four Years Later_

Aria didn't have the slightest clue why she was forced to wear a skirt. Wasn't school suppose to be none sexual? … Okay, yeah the skirt was almost to her ankles but still, if she was ever attacked by some random demon or whatever, everyone would surly see her pink underwear her mom bought for her. She hated pink.

School, like always, was boring for Aria. It was easy for her, too easy actually. Having a tutor that was a former demon in another life also helps too. She shouldn't have to go to school; she is ten years old after all. Come on! Fourth grade is far too easy for her; she should have the privilege to skip it. Have one year off to train for the next Makai tournament, her spiritual powers only compares to a High D class demon, (Low C class if Yusuke pisses her off enough), and that just made her even more frustrated. There's no way in hell she would be able to beat her own father being a D/C class.

All of this crossed her mind as she walked to class for the day. Her head hung low as she watched her feet as she walked. Her eyes betrayed her as she thought when her "sort of" friend, Mako, came out of his house when he saw Aria pass by. He was a normal human, but like her he was smart. Probably why she allows him to be around her, if anyone else tried to sit next to her at lunch she would give them an ear full of cuss words. She was a loner, and she hated being around people that looked at her like she was a freak. Yeah, okay, she can take them all on and she demonstrated it more than once on a couple of her fellow students. They were all afraid of her, and she knew she didn't belong here, not only by the stares she received from her students and even teacher, but also because she could feel it deep in her heart.

Every night she dreamed about the Makai, it was even hard for her to sometimes sleep at night when it wasn't storming. When it did storm, she would imagine that she was in her father's castle sleeping and not in her own pink Barbie room that her mother thought would be cute. She only visited the Makai twelve more times since the last Makai tournament, and each time she had a ball. Not only that, but Kujuo was there as well. The last time she was there he challenged her to a fight. Of course he was far stronger than her but it was still fun to fight someone other than her father. He also taught her new fighting stances, mostly defense ones but it did help her greatly. Yesterday, she used one of those stances on her father when they were training, something he wasn't expecting making her have the upper hand. That was the first time someone other than herself did a face plant in the dirt that night. Of course, he decided that it was time to bring it up to the next level. She hasn't felt this sore in a long time.

"Aria?" Mako began to wave his hand in front of her face trying to get her attention. Aria turned her head to look at him and smiled.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something."

Aria not only hated wearing her school uniform but her mother always put her hair into high pigtails, she gave her an ear full saying that when she was Aria's age this was the hairstyle she wore every day. Aria wouldn't argue with her, she learned a long time ago not to back mouth her mother. There were severe consequences; her butt was purple for months. She believes her mother had a stronger smack than her father's punch.

"What were you thinking about, you seemed lost about something?" Mako eyed her weirdly. Mako had been her friend since the first day of grade school and ever since then he knew whenever something was bothering her. She would try to hide it but he would insist – all day that she should tell him.

So basically, he knew about the three different worlds. It surprised her that he believed her the first time she told him when they were in second grade. More surprisingly, he can see ghost, so basically he already knew about the spirit world. When she told him about the demon world, Makai, he believed her right away. One time, when he was little, he remembered seeing someone who had horns but no one else could see it. His mom thought he was crazy when he mentioned it to her and sent him in to see a shrink.

"I'm just thinking about the Makai, it's been about the month since I've last been there and I'm really starting to miss it," Aria acted like she was about to tear up, but she only laughed afterwards because she was a horrible actor and Mako had to point it out.

"You're obsessed with that place. Aren't there big demon's there that would do anything to eat you?" Mako asked with a serious tone, all joking aside.

Aria, on the other hand, laughed. "Yep, but that's what makes it so awesome! They're not like anything you would find here."

"Yeah, but," Mako began, looking over at his strange friend with confusion. He would always ask this question and Aria would always choose to ignore him. He wouldn't understand coming from a family that was all human. "Aren't you afraid of being eaten alive?"

"Not really," she said the same response every time. Mako opened his mouth again to say something but Aria interrupted him. "Hey! Let's skip school today." Aria began walking the other way toward an arcade. "I have quarters today." She sounded like it was a good idea, like nothing was going to happen if they play hookie.

"I rather not," Mako began but Aria grabbed his wrist and dragged him along. She was far stronger than he was so all he could do was try to keep up with her. If he couldn't then he would end up being dragged on the ground. It's hard to explain to his parents when he had pavement burns all over his face.

"Aria, we shouldn't be here!" Mako whined next to her as he glanced all around him like he was expecting a teacher or his mom to pop out and catch him. "We can still make it on time if we leave now!"

Aria snorted but continued on playing dance, dance revolution. She was the best at it because her eyes, unlike most humans, can follow along with the most challenging of songs. A small crowd began to form around the two as they watched the ten year old dance on the hardest level like it was nothing. Not one step did she miss when the song was finished as the words "High Score" popped up on the screen asking for a five digit name. Aria, as usual, put her own name and when she pressed enter her name popped up in first place as well as second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on. Yes, she did like her dance, dance revolution a little too much.

Aria looked back over at Mako and pulled down the skin of her right eye while laughing. "Try to beat that."

Mako rolled his eyes. "Come on, if we jog we might be able to make it. Please Aria; I don't want my mom to be called when I don't show up for first period."

Aria looked at him with confusion. "They'll call our parents?" When he nodded Aria froze. Oh no, if they call her mom she'll get spanked again! A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of not being able to sit for a month crossed her mind. "OH NO!" She yelled running passed Mako and toward the school. "I'm so sorry, so, so, so sorry!" She yelled to no one in particular as she ran frantically to school. Of course, she kept her pace as she ran. For someone her age she can run just as fast as most high school teens and that is frowned upon by her father. She still had to keep a low profile of her abilities even in school. But her mother, which is strange even for her, is a little excited about her running abilities for middle schools when after school clubs become an essential social life for middle school kids. Other than that, she blames Yusuke for making her little girl into a "mini tank of destruction".

"Wait up, Aria…" Mako yelled after her as he tried to keep up.

"You're on your own, Mako," She called back and kept on running. That is until she ran face first into someone's stomach. She fell backwards onto her butt, her book bag flying to the far right and hitting a trashcan with a thud. Aria rubbed her nose, trying to make it stop stinging before she goes into fits of sneezing, and looked up at the guy who wouldn't get out of her way. He looked normal in the general sense, short brown hair, light blue eyes, a white button up long sleeve shirt, and blue jeans. A normal, everyday human, that is except for the horns coming out of his head that only she can see.

Aria slowly stood up and eyeballed the guy in front of her before crossing her arms and jutting her hip out indicating she really didn't give a crap at the moment. "And what the hell do you want?"

The man/demon is disguise smiled down at her as nicely as any stranger would do. Mako finally caught up to her and stopped when he caught sight of the man with horns. At first he didn't say anything as he just stood there staring, then he opened his mouth to say something but Aria elbowed him in the stomach to make him shut up.

"Koenma sent me," he simply said, like mentioning Koenma was a good enough excuse not to ask questions.

But Aria didn't buy it. "Why would Koenma send a demon when he has Botan?"

The demon didn't falter but his smile grew. "Let just say, little girl, that I'm fulfilling my sentence for the spirit world brat and he sent me here to give you this." He handed Aria a DVD case but she wouldn't take it. "He didn't want Botan to deliver because he wants to keep it a secret from your father."

"And why wouldn't he want my father to know about this DVD?"

"Let's just say your father doesn't believe you are capable enough to handle such a job as he did in his younger years," The demon in disguise slightly grins when he saw her face wrinkle up with disbelief, her face growing slightly pink. She snatched the DVD out of his hand and glared down at it.

"I'll look at it but if it looks boring then tell Koenma that he can go suck an egg somewhere away from me!" Aria snarled as she walked past the demon with her head held high. Mako ran over to where she flung her bag, picked it up, and ran after her saying she forgot her bag, while steering clear of the demon. She wouldn't stop though as she trudged along with a set determination.

"What was that all about?" Mako asked a little confused when he caught up to her.

Aria shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno."

Mako scratched his head and looked at his incredulous friend. "Well, we should hurry up to school; we're going to be late."

Aria nodded her head and they both began to jog toward school. Aria grabbed her bag out of his hands and placed the DVD in the front pocket making sure it wouldn't fall out. Once satisfied, she slung it over her shoulder and watched as their elementary school began to grow into view. Their pace quickened when the bell rang indicating that they will be late in five minutes. Once in school they went their separate ways. Aria walked down the almost empty hall to her math class and just slipped inside when the late bell rang. Her teacher eyeballed her when she did walk in but didn't say anything as she walked over to her seat and sat down. Yes, she made it bastard teacher.

As the teacher began to speak math talk, Aria was thankful that in this class she was seated next to the window. She watched as the teacher began to write math problems on the chalk board, but her attention soon turned to the window. Her imagination began to go wild as she thought about what the tape may be concealing. Actually, she was growing more excited by the second. Her father's first mission was with this guy named Rando… she thinks, and that was an interesting mission. Maybe this is something like it. If it is she can truly test her abilities as a fighter, to see if her training has actually paid off.

So far, Aria has mastered the spirit gun, spirit shotgun, spirit punch, spirit gun barrage, and spirit wave, (sort of). She also can make a spirit sword similar to Kuwabara's. She watched him do it a couple of times and by the age of nine she can do it without hardly any effort. Kurama now had begun teaching her techniques in manipulating plants. Yesterday, she made a rose bush grow twice the size then it originally was before she messed with it. Kurama told her she was an extraordinary child but she doesn't think so, she just gets the hang of things better than most people when they first are starting out. Kurama thinks different but what does he know, that's right he doesn't know anything…

* * *

**(Haha, well I hope this chapter was good. The beginning I had a hard time writing since the focus wasn't on anyone in particular. Also, I just wanted to mention that Yomi will be coming to later chapters as well as his son but I didn't want him in the last Makai tournament because he's still on his journey thing with his son. This chapter was a little shorter than the last but this will be the shortest I'll ever make a chapter in the future. You know what to do, the more reviews I get the more people will want to read my story. I'm trying my best to make Mako and Aria sound young, but man it's really hard. I hope I did alright with this chapter. **

**Destiny – Yeah, I've been wanting to write a story like this one for a long time now and since I have the time I can do so. Thanks for the review!**

**HappyAlways – I hope I updated fast enough for you, :). **

**Update: If you already read my first chapter please look at my authors note at the end talking about Hiei's height, I just added it now and it will play a small itsy bitsy part in my story.)**


	3. Chapter Three: The Talk

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Three: The "Talk"

"You stupid ass…" Aria yelled, standing straight up in her seat with her hand extended back like she was going to punch… her teacher. Oh no…

Her Social Studies teacher, Mr. Minsuto, saw she was sleeping during class. He called out her name numerous times but she just would not respond! So, he walked over to her seat and began to shake her shoulder. Aria, who must have been having a pretty interesting dream, shot up from her seat, her eyes half-lidded and began to continue her sentence she was having in her dream. Yes, she was going to punch him, but once she saw it was her teacher her face drained of all color, (Not remembering her dream in the least bit).

_Great, _she thought as she looked at her teacher who was glaring down at her while crossing his arms in distaste. _Now I'm gonna definitely get expelled now. _

Aria's been in many fights in the past. The teachers and principle are feed up with her wild streak that they decided on telling her mother that if she misbehaves in anyway one more time, she would be expelled from school. And that would go on her permanent record; her mother would tell her every day before she would head off to school. She also told her that if she ever did get expelled, she wouldn't have an ass to sit on anymore.

Everyone around her began to snicker at her outburst but soon stopped when Mr. Minsuto's glare turned toward them. But one student in the class that Aria absolutely despised would not stop smiling with triumph, like it was her idea for Aria to fall asleep in class and have a small dreaming outburst in front of her teacher. Her name was Miaka Sitsuo, her enemy.

Aria absolutely despised her, she came to this school right after Aria's last fight and being threatened to be expelled. The first day of school for Miaka last year they were partnered together to practice spelling words for her English class; at first she came off as a sweet, innocent girl with bright blue eyes and bouncy-blondey-to-perfect-hair, which whom Aria didn't care less about. That day all she wanted to do was hurry up and get out of that class for lunch, she was starving. But Miaka had a different plan for her. You see, Miaka was passing by the office that day when Aria's mother was talking to the principle and overheard everything that went down. After talking with other students about Aria's behavior and her being the toughest kid at school, she decided to take advantage of Aria's situation.

So, as they practiced their spelling words Miaka asked if she can sit with Aria during lunch since she didn't know anyone else besides Aria. Aria, after rolling her eyes, agreed as long as she doesn't talk to her. She hated conversation with other people other than Mako and he wasn't there that day, had the chicken pocks, or something along those lines, so he couldn't come to school. Miaka only wanted to sit with her that one day and once she made more friends she won't bother her ever again. Aria didn't see the harm in it so she didn't think anything of it. Boy, was she so wrong that day.

As Aria got her lunch out of her locker and headed for the cafeteria Miaka was already there, sitting at her table. Miaka waved her over and Aria, rolling her eyes once more, walked over not thinking anything of it and WAM! Miaka poured her chocolate milk on Aria's head and said some… distasteful comments about her choice of clothing and the chocolate milk made a slight improvement. Everyone around her laughed and repeated the very distasteful comments. Aria almost hit her that day but her mother's words passed through her mind before she made the initial punch. That was the first fight she ever walked away from. She didn't tell her mother or father about the incident. It wasn't there problem, it was hers.

She should have suspected something was off that day when Miaka knew where she sat at during lunch. But, no, she had to be an idiot that day. What's new? But it still bothered the crap out of her that Miaka acted like she won the war with her that day and Aria did not like that ideal in the least bit. But what could she do? Follow Miaka home and show her how a battle is actually one? She tried doing that once, actually followed her all the way to her house… but things had happened.

Aria rolled her eyes toward Miaka when she sat back down in her seat as fast as possible while Mr. Minsuto gave her the stare. "Ms. Urameshi, I want to see you after class. No ifs, ands, or buts." He added the last bit when she opened her mouth to argue.

Aria crossed her arms and huffed but looked in the other direction when Mr. Minsuto turned around to give her the stare indicating that he heard her. She acted like she didn't do anything, like she was innocent, but it was hard to keep a straight face when her fellow students were snickering all around her. She so did not belong there.

Aria looked over at Miaka who was still giving her a sly smile but Aria flipped her off, making the smile turn into a thin line of slight annoyance. _Yeah, that's right bitch, what are you gonna do about it? _Miaka rolled her eyes and turned her attention back toward the teacher. Aria felt victorious for that split second, but after class she wasn't so sure about. She just hoped Mr. Minsuto wouldn't call her mother. Her bottom was innocent this time!

"Do you want to be expelled from school, Ms. Urameshi?" Mr. Minsuto said tapping his fingers against his desk as he waited for her reply. It was after class and end of the school day. All she wanted to do was run home and watch the stupid DVD Koenma gave her.

"No," She said sheepishly.

"No…?"

Aria sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, Mr. Minsuto."

"Good, now one more misshape then I'm afraid I have no choice but to contact your mother." When Aria rolled her eyes once again, Mr. Minsuto sighed and took his glasses off to rub his eyes. Aria looked down at him in his seat. Wow, without his glasses on he looks really old. "I don't want to see you go down the wrong path Aria, I'm only here to help you succeed in life."

Aria nodded her head acting like she really gave a crap about what he was trying to say. She really didn't, but he didn't have to know that. "I'm sorry Mr. Minsuto, I promise it won't happen again." She said with sincerity. But Mr. Minsuto seemed like he didn't buy it, after all she wasn't a very good liar.

"Then why do I have the feeling you're really not hearing what I have to say, or even considering what I am trying to do for you?"

Aria tried her best not to roll her eyes again. This is getting so boring! Come on, she wanted to get the heck out of there so she can see what the hell is on the DVD, it's been eating at her all day. "I'm sorry Mr. Minsuto that you feel like that way. I swear that I absolutely understand everything you are trying to do for me." Yes, suck it up enough and she'll be getting out of there in no time. Come on Mr. Minsuto, let her go!

After rubbing the bags underneath his eyes he placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and told Aria she was excused. Next time though, he had no other choice but to call her mother.

Aria walked out of the room slowly with her head hung low acting like she was actually thinking about what he just said. But as soon as she was out of sight she ran down the hallway and to her locker. She grabbed her bag first making sure the DVD was in its rightful spot and ran off down the hallway once more and out the door. Mako was yelling for her but she ignored him. She ran down the street as fast as her legs could possibly move not caring that everyone was giving her weird stares, (Not only because she was running faster than a normal ten year old should but she also had a grin that reached both her ears as she ran. For some odd reason everyone thought that to be strange?).

"Get out of my way!", "Move it fat ass!", "MOVE, or face my wrath!" Aria yelled at everyone she ran past, or was about to hit. Her shoulder bag flung behind her hitting her back constantly with protest but she ignored it. Oh, this was going to be so cool! Her first mission! She wondered what demon she was going to have to pursue after, just like her father did when he first started. Oh wait, now she remembers! His first mission was to get the three artifacts Hiei and Kurama stole from the spirit world vault… and that other guy who wasn't important – not that Rando guy.

Anyways – Aria finally made it home, of course, everyone gave her weird, freak like stares as they watched her run, but whatever, she was use to everyone looking at her like she was some kind of freak…

Aria grabbed her bag from her side and pulled out the DVD, a smirk only growing to a grin as she eyeballed it. When she opened the door to her house she instantly hides her hand that was holding the DVD behind her back. Right in the middle of her living room was her father and Kurama. Yusuke looked over at her, but he didn't give her his usual grin she was use to seeing every time she came home, (Whenever he was home… sometimes he would go off to the Makai for a month or two and be back for a week to a month at the most). This time his face showed a hint of disbelief and concern for… her. She glanced over at Kurama, but unlike her father's expression he actually smiled his normal subtle smile he gives her when they first meet for the day.

But Kurama's eyes betrayed him, something Aria took note of.

"What's up?" Aria asked, trying to sound clueless as ever. She acted like she didn't notice her father's weird stare as well as Kurama's as she walked over to the couch, turned her back to them and made sure she put the DVD in her bag nonchalantly, acting like she was looking for something. She turned her attention back to the two. "Are we going to train some more today, Kurama? You know," Aria began, her lips turning up into a cocky grin. "In another year or so I bet I will be able to manipulate plants better than you ever could Kurama." She knew it wasn't true, that Kurama had a hundred years of practice over her four years, but she really wanted to lighten the mood.

"Aria, is that you?" Keiko called from the kitchen.

Aria walked over passed the two and looked into the kitchen to see her washing dishes, like usual. She's always in the kitchen it seems. "What's up?" Aria asked, (And that's where a woman should be!).

Her mother turned toward her and smiled, completely oblivious to what's going on in her own house. "How was your day at school? You know, I received a phone call today from one of your teachers."

Aria looked at her dumbfounded, then worry hit her like a ton of bricks and she tried her best to hide it but was failing miserable. "Oh yeah, about what?" Good, she didn't stutter.

Keiko shrugged, turning her attention back to the dishes. "It was your social studies teacher, he wanted to let me know that you bumped your grade up to an A now. You remember don't you, I told him to call me if your grade has changed at all."

Relief washed over Aria and a sigh of relief escaped her lips. "Is that all mom?"

Keiko nodded her head and went back to humming a song she didn't know. Stupid old people songs, they are so annoying. Aria turned back around to see her father and Kurama talking again about something, but when she had her attention on them once more they stopped. "Okay," Aria began walking up to the two and placing her hands on her hips and gave them both a stern look. "What are you two not telling me?"

Yusuke began to scratch the back of his head; something Aria is use to seeing when he was uncomfortable about something or the situation at hand. She then looked over at Kurama giving him a look saying she wanted answers, and that she wasn't stupid. Kurama sighed but still smiled down at his pupil, "I think you may want to talk to Yukina about something you might be expecting in the coming year."

"…Okay?" Aria said, but her voice still held a questioning tone. "Is this about my period? Because I know all about the whole bleeding process and whatnot…"

Yusuke interrupted her, waving both arms in the hair and shaking his head. "Please Aria; give your old man a break. That's the last thing I want to hear that my own daughter will being hitting puberty. Not something a father would like his little girl to ever have to go through." A timidly laughed.

Aria glared up at him, appalled by what he said. "But you should support me, you're my own father!" Aria's eyes grew wide as she looked up at her father with complete and utter despair, (jokingly, of course).

"Yeah, but… but!" Yusuke sounded like he was about to have a heart attack. His daughter hitting puberty, getting curvier, getting… No! He won't even think of it, she's too perfect as she was then. Damn, why did biology have to be so… dumb! He grabbed Aria by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes; not even blinking as he was an only mere inch away all joking aside. "You got to promise me something."

Wow, Aria never seen her father get this serious this fast before, this must be really important to him. "Um, okay," her voice was hesitant, and a little frightened.

And just like that, the moment was shattered. Yusuke's eyes began to water growing big in the process. "You gotta promise me you will always be my little girl. Even after you go and get married and have your own kids that you won't forget about your old man…"

Aria punched at his face, which he caught her fist with ease. "You can't be serious!" She yelled at him. Yusuke laughed as his daughter continuously tried to punch him.

"What are you two doing?" Keiko said, crossing her arms as she walked into the room. She gave them both a stern look. "You know I don't like it when you guys fool around in my house. You remember what happened last time?" Which consisted of Aria accidentally breaking one of Keiko's vases her mother gave her; it was Yusuke's fault, he provoked her into a fist fight. Why? Well, he always liked to provoke his daughter into a fight for no apparent reason.

Yusuke grabbed both of Aria's wrists and held her in place as she struggled against his grip. Yusuke grinned one of his so called "flattering" grins he only does for Keiko, but, of course, she didn't buy it. Kurama shook his head slightly out how ridiculous Yusuke looked.

Aria swung her foot forward to an inattentive Yusuke and kicked him in a place no man should ever be kicked. Yusuke's eyes shaded over as he let go of Aria and fell backwards, his hands groping his nether regions. Keiko gasp when Aria did so and when Yusuke hit the ground hard she looked over at Aria accusingly. "Aria Genkai Urameshi!" Her voice mocking her expression.

Aria turned around timidly while scratching her head, something she also does when she's uncomfortable about something. Keiko almost smiled at the similarity of the two, but she didn't, unlike her father, her mother had more self-control. "That is not how a lady should act; now tell your father that you are sorry!" When Aria groaned Keiko pointed her finger up and glared down at her daughter, which basically meant not to test her.

Aria sighed, hanging her head low in defeat. She began to mumble something under her breath saying he started it, but nonetheless she turned around back to her father and whispered that she was sorry.

Keiko looked over at Kurama and gave him an applogetic look. "I'm sorry that my husband and daughter are so rude when we have a guest over."

Kurama smiled reassuringly, not bothered in the least bit. "No need to apologize. I have to admit that I enjoy seeing the daughter and father bonding the two have. Even when the actions may be questioning to most."

* * *

Genkai waited somberly for her new pupil and former to come up the steps to her temple. She felt their presence the first time they stepped off the train near her land. Kurama was among the two as well which begged the question of what they had planned when they reached her home. But, she really didn't give a damn; all she cared for was her pupil's training. After all, she was destined to be the new spirit detective. But, Genkai couldn't help but get the feeling that her path was going to be far different than her father's; something that concerned her dearly, even though she may not show it but she cared for her pupils' well being, as well as her dimwit of a father.

She watched as her pupil, Aria, bounced up the stairs, her short pigtail hair bouncing behind her. Yusuke was next to walk up the stairs, Genkai could feel a smile tug at the corner of her lips as she looked at the two, how much alike they were not only in personality but in looks as well. Aria had Yusuke's dark brown hair (almost black looking), as well as his eyes. Her face unfortunately still had its baby fat, giving her more of a round face, but Genkai was pretty sure she would grow into a face like her mother's – maybe even more beautiful. Yes, Genkai could tell Aria was going to be a beautiful woman when her time comes.

Yukina walked out of the temple when she too sensed the trio of friends. She waved at the three and Aria ran over to her. "Hey!" Aria began as she ran up to her, then leaping through the air and landing in front of Yukina, something Yukina was use to her doing. "My dad and the red head want me to talk to you about something." Aria shrugged her shoulders and added, "But I don't know what."

"Oh?" Yukina asked as she looked over at the two men. Kurama nodded his head toward her in a silent agreement that it was time for "the talk". Yukina nodded back and said, "Oh yes, I remember now, please come inside so we can talk in private."

Aria gave her a confused look but followed her inside anyways. Yukina lead her down the hallway and into the room Yukina was currently, and most likely permanently, occupying. Before Aria walked into the room she could hear Kuwabara voice call out Yusuke's name; Aria hide her smile as it seemed he's always here with Yukina doing ... things aria shouldn't be suspecting of the two love birds.

Once Aria was inside, Yukina turned around and shut the door behind her. She walked over to her bed and sat down, patting the spot next to her. Aria complied and walked over taking the seat without much of a question. "Do you know why you are hearing speaking to me currently?" Yukina asked, her all too sweet voice showing nothing but innocence as she spoke. Aria shook her head and Yukina continued. "You see, the reason why your father wanted me to talk to you is because," She closed her eyes and an all too sweet smile decided the grace her face as she prepared herself for the upcoming conversation. "Well, you see, use demons go through a faze right before we have something equivalent to a human um," Yukina hesitated, her hand placed softly on her chin as she thought of the strange word humans used for… "To a human period."

Aria began to outright laugh at Yukina. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yukina, sweet little Yukina, talking about the human menstrual cycle. "Um, is this really what my dad wanted me to talk to you about? I already told him that I know all about this stuff…"

Yukina shook her head in disagreement. "No, not that, I'm referring to the demon equivalent." Aria gave her a confused look?

"Why do I need to know that?"

Yukina's smiled warmly. "Your father is a demon, or at least half, right?" When Aria nodded she continued. "This may be a possibility that his demon genes may have passed onto you."

At first, Aria didn't say a word as she soaked in the information. She opened her mouth to say something but shut it immediately after she rethought it. After about an uncomfortable minute she finally asked, "So, I'm a Mazoku like my father?"

"Something like that, but since Yusuke has already awakened; Kurama suspects that yours will do the same, but in a different sense."

"Okay? But, I don't get it, what's this have to do with a demon period?"

"It's actually called a heat cycle; Kurama isn't sure that your fathers demonic genes have been passed over. There is a possibility, since Yusuke has already awaken the Mazoku, that the gene had stopped being passed down." When Aria didn't say anything still confused by the whole ordeal, Yukina continued. "If you go into heat, then that confirms that the gene has been passed down."

Aria had never been this confused in her entire life. "But, if I haven't _transformed_ yet, then how can I go into heat when that gene hasn't awaken yet?"

"In a way it has already, but is in hiding until…"

"I grow more powerful?" She sounded hopeful. Yukina nodded making Aria smile like a new born child. This, on its own, made this day the best day Aria had had in a very, very, very long time!

"Which is why Yusuke and Kurama wanted me to speak to you, to prepare you for your first heat if it ever arrives." Aria nodded and waited for Yukina's explanation what a demon heat actually was. "Demons don't go into heat every month, which you may since you are still part human, demon woman go into heat every three months. You see…"

Yukina explained how demon females have a certain pheromone that any demon male can smell a little over a mile away. That the desire to mate was almost uncontrollable and can be extremely uncomfortable or even painful, especially if there was a demon male around that was more than willing to pass on his genes. Male demons go into heat as well when they come in contact with the female heat pheromone that they, too, start to excrete their own as well. But with Aria it may not be as strong since she might only be part demon, making her heat less subtle that she may not even notice it at first, which concerns Yukina greatly.

"So, if I'm not being careful I can be raped any moment by some rogue demon that is passing by while I'm going through this cycle?"

"Not exactly raped, well, it depends really on how strong the demon is. The stronger the demon male is the stronger his pheromones are which will put the female into a hypnotic state forcing them to be more than willing."

"So… demon males are like date rape drugs when turned on, great that's exactly what I want to hear…" Aria said sarcastically. Yukina looked at her confused, not understanding what a date rape drug was.

"If you feel anything different," Yukina continued again ignoring the date rape drug comment. "Physically with your body please come to me right away." Yukina said grabbing Aria's hands into hers where she gently squeezed. "I'll be here for your first heat cycle. The first is always the most unpleasant."

Aria nodded, a side of her a little frightened by the thought of attracting the wrong group of demons by accident, but then the other part was excited that she may be a demon, which in turn would make her…

Would make her feel like she actually belongs somewhere.

* * *

**(… Okay, what do you guys think? Yes, I know that this seems like a filler chapter, which it basically is. I just wanted to introduce Miaka and then get that whole demon talk thing out of the way so their won't be any confusion later on in the story. I don't know, I'm still kind of ify about this chapter. If you don't like how it sounds, if anyone is out of character like Yukina or Kurama please tell me so I can fix it as soon as possible. I wanted Yukina to be the one to tell Aria because well, Yukina is a she and it would be weird to have Yusuke or Kurama explain. Not so much Kurama, though. Oh, before I forget, next chapter will have a funny scene between Hiei and Aria, I'm kind of excited to write it. REVIEW! More reviews = more visitors… I believe. **

**My next chapter may take a little bit longer (Up to four days max, instead of two), because I'm gonna go through the other chapters and fix all the grammar and spelling errors as well as sharpen up sentences and paragraphs that just plainly don't sound right, this chapter as well. As I did a quick read it made me cringe in some parts that made me wonder what the hell I was thinking. **

**Wow, I can't believe how many reviews I got for the last chapter! Holy cow, I'm so happy, :).**

**Just 2 Dream of You – Thanks for favoriting! I'm glad you like Aria's personality, hopefully you still like her after this chapter!**

** crazy. indeed– Hey, I know you! I love your story Animal Instincts, it's the best!... A lot better than mine story, :p. Haha, have to say I was surprised to see your review. Hope to see you again in the future, :)... For some odd reason fanfiction won't let me put your name on here unless I put a space between the period... weird.  
**

**HappyAlways – I hope I updated fast again for ya, to tell you the truth I can't wait either until she gets older, hehe.**

**DDarkness – I hope this chapter shapes up as good as the other two, as well as in length. I'm glad to see you like Aria as well, now I know I don't ever have to change her for whatever reason, lol.**


	4. Chapter Four: Proposition

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Four:Proposition

Aria rummaged through the clutter of old stowaway merchandise Genkai keeps in her closet. Right now Genkai was outside socializing with Yusuke and his friends so now was the perfect time to see if she could find Genkai's PlayStation 2 (yes, Genkai played video games, and she better than all of them!). She knew the old hag had it, but where… Aha! Here it was. Aria held the game system up in triumph. Hehe, she put the system off the side and put all the junk back in the closet and ran off to another room. Kuwabara's to be exact, he can't live without his TV.

Aria kicked the door open and walked in. The first thing that graced her eyes was Puu… Why Puu was in there only confused her for a split second before she shrugged it off and walked over to Kuwabara's TV while dodging the clothing that littered his floor. How Yukina puts up with him Aria would never know.

She plugged in the PS2, put the tape in and leaned against Puu as she watched the tape. The opening scene was something rather boring, some ogre saying "Snarggle, Snarggle!" in Koenma's name… Yeah, whatever. Finally Koenma popped onto the screen. Aria stifled a laugh when she saw him. This was the first time she witnessed him in his baby form, now she knew why her father would ask how his dipper rash was handling him.

"Yo," Koenma began as he sat lazily in his oversized, comfortable looking chair. "You're probably wondering why I sent you this tape. Actually, I take that back, you probably do know why. You see, I have a mission for you, something I know only you can achieve victory."Aria sat forward as she listened intently to Koenma's next words, her heart practically leaping out of her chest with excitement. "Unfortunately though, as I suspect you were wishing for a mission your father had when he first started out as a spirit detective, you will not being chasing after anything as dangerous as Rando – or whatever other horror stories your father probably told you…"

Aria clicked the switch off on the PS2, pulled the DVD out; put it back in its case, walked out the bedroom into the hallway, down the hall… to the bathroom, then to the toilet where she tried desperately to flush the DVD down while mumbling disrespectful words about Koenma. "Stupid piece off… thought it was going… gonna kick his… never gonna listen…"

Someone began to knock on the door. "Hey, Aria, you okay in there?" Her father asked he must have heard her mumbling while walking past looking for her. Either that or he needed to use the bathroom.

"I'm fine…" Aria grumbled while pulling the wet DVD case out of the toilet, opening it back up and breaking the DVD into ten different pieces and throwing it away in the trash. She washed her hands real quick and opened the door. "What's up?" She asked when she saw her father staring down at her like he wanted to say something. The cocky grin did not give it away in the least bit.

"Guess where we are going?" He asked happily.

Aria rolled her eyes. "Better not be grandma's house, I rather not go to school again smelling like cigarettes and alcohol."

Yusuke gave her a hard stare. "Hey, don't talk about your Grandmother like that, you know she tries to be sober when you're around." Aria rolled her eyes yet again but didn't say anything. She must not try that hard since she's always drunk every time Aria saw her. "Wanna take another guess?" Aria crossed her arms in saying just get on with it. "Jeez, what got your panties in a bunch?" Yusuke asked while pocking his daughters' forehead teasingly. "Where heading to the Makai tonight!"

Aria eyes perked up and she began to bounce up and down ecstatically. "Are you serious?" Her eyes sparkled with a new found hope that today was actually going to turn out to be an awesome day. Yusuke nodded his head, the same cocky smile still present. Aria squealed and jumped up and down uncontrollably. "Yes, Yes, YES!" She hugged her father, crushing her face in his abdomen. "I love you, dad!"

"Hey there kiddo, not so fast, before we go I need you to do one more thing for me."

"I'll do anything!"

"Genkai needs water for a bath tonight, so if you don't mind getting two buckets…" But before he could finish his sentence, Aria was already running off yelling no problem out the door and out of his sight. Yusuke laughed and shook his head while a thought crossed his mind, _She is something alright… _Then the thought of her hitting puberty crossed his mind once more, tears forming in his eyes as he thought that this may be the last time she is this goofy and loving toward him. Soon, she's going to be a teen wanting a cell phone and dating horney school boys… A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of it. Now was the time to enjoy what he had now before everything changes for the worse…

Aria trudged along the path that leads to the pond where she was suppose to get the water from. Man, she always wondered why did Genkai have indoor plumbing but doesn't like to use the water for bathing? Something about impurities… She didn't know and didn't careless to listen when Genkai told her multiple times why she had to get fresh spring/pond like water miles away from her property. Today, though, Aria will not complain. She wanted desperately to go back to the Makai and see Kujou again one more time. The thought of seeing him warmed her cheeks greatly turning them from a light pink to a flushed red.

Not too long ago when her and Kujou where sparing while Yusuke was off to go see Hiei and Mukuro, (He was basically babysitting her), Aria, _accidentally, _blurted out her feelings for the older man, (even though he looks no older than a twenty year old human)… or more like screamed her feelings for him…

Anyways, when she _yelled _her feelings to Kujou he, well, froze. This, in its own way, made her hopeful that he was actually considering it, but when he shook his head back and forth Aria's soul felt like it shattered into million pieces – not only that but she was so embarrassed for yelling it at him while they were sparring! She almost ran away from him, but Kujou caught her arm before she could even attempt it.

Aria could remember it like it was yesterday, even though it just happened last month, an eternity in Aria's perspective.

_Tears wanted to form in her eyes as she watched Kujou shake his head after her outburst, but she blinked them away making sure they were completely dry before he looked back up to her, his eyes showing sympathy. She hated that look, she realized, and turned away from him not wanting to see his stare any longer. "Just forget I said anything." But before she could take a step forward Kujou reached out and grabbed her wrist. She looked back to see what the heck he was doing and was caught off guard by his tantalizing smile. He pulled her closer to him and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. _

"_Aria," He began kneeling down on his knees as he only slightly looked up at her small (short) stature. He brought his hand up and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "When you are older I may return your feelings, but for now this is as close as I can get." _

Aria's face was flushed after the memory. He did in a way have the same feelings for her, but at her age he couldn't do anything about it, (which basically means he can't delve into it any further to see if his feelings are genuine). But when he said those words it made her heart skip a beat. Oh, how she coudn't wait to be older!

The spring/pond was in view. Aria jogged over to it until she was as the edge of the water where she set her stuff down on the ground and began to stretch. That is until she felt a presence behind her. She quickly twirled around and put her arms up in defense, like her father had shown her but, to her surprise, there was no one there. At least, until her eyes turned toward the willow tree where something, or someone, was sitting underneath it; she cautiously walked over to the tree not letting her guard down.

"…Hiei!" Aria said in utter surprise. He was – sleeping underneath the tree… She casually walked over to him and kneeled next to him looking at his peaceful face. This was the first time she saw him since the last Makai tournament. Every time her father would visit him he would never bring her along.

And he looked so… she doesn't know, baby like?

Aria reached her hand out toward his face – and poked his cheek where she then took a giant leap back afraid that he would suddenly jump up and try to kill her. Her father did tell her some interesting stories of the short guy in front of her... Did he get shorter or was it just her?

He didn't wake up from the initial poke. Aria slowly crawled back to where she was originally kneeling, reached her hand up one more time and poked her finger once more into the side of his cheek. This time, she kept it there waiting for a response from him.

Nothing.

Aria continuously, and without mercy, poked his cheek but there was still no response? A demon of his stature, anyone would think that they got in a yard from his sleeping form that he would instantly wake up. This must be a test, Aria thought. She looked at him expectantly, made a couple of faces, then scooted over so she was kneeling in front of his so called sleeping form where she continued to poke at his face. His chin, his nose, his third eye… Okay, come on! After the stories her father gave her, that was supposed to be his sensitive spot, besides his… wing-wang (hehe).

Aria stood up and eyeballed him, and then she turned around and looked over towards the two buckets she carried out there. A very, very, very wicked idea crossed her mind, her smile matching. She walked over, dipped the bucket into the water and casually walked over to Hiei. Okay, now he had to wake up. There was no way in hell that he would let her get him wet.

One more time. "Hiei?" No response, this time louder, inside voice. "Hiei?" A little louder, outside voice. "Hiei?"… Louder. "Hiei!" Okay, its official, Aria thought, he's testing her. Why? She didn't know. It's been four years since the last time she saw him.

She brought the bucket back behind her hips, positioned herself and flung it forward. The water flew through the air and… hit Hiei square on.

"HOLY MOTHER OF…!" Aria yelled not believing what she just did. When the water hit his body jerked so he was sitting upright, his eyes going wide looking around almost like he forgot where he was at then his eyes caught hers instantly turning to slits when he saw the bucket in her hands. That was when she screamed and swore.

He sat there glaring the death glare at her and she stood there dumbfounded. "Ah… haha… I - hey, I think I hear my mother calling… yeah!" She said the last sentence quick and began to jog off that soon turned into a full out sprint. But before she can leave the clearing Hiei suddenly appeared in front of her making her run into him and falling on her ass. She looked up at him scared crapless; this was the day she was going to die, so she thought, and it was going to be a very terrible, agonizing death.

"I'm so sorry Hiei," Aria pleaded. "I swear, I thought… I thought…!"

"You thought what?" His voice made her flinch. It reminded her of someone in one of those horror movies where the killer asks, "Any last words". And no, not one of those sadistic killers, but one of the quiet ones that won't talk and you would never guess it was them until the end of the movie. The way he said that, reminded her of one of those killers.

Aria moved so she was on her knees and she bent over shoving her head into the grass. "Please don't kill me. I wanna live!" Of course, she was half serious half kidding around. She's ten, nothing bad happens to a ten year old! At least, that is what she thought.

Hiei walked passed her and Aria could swear she could feel his anger radiating off of him. "You're pathetic." Was his only words.

She looked up and turned to look behind her to see Hiei walking back to the willow tree with his hands in his pockets and lean against it, his eyes closed. Something was off about him, but it could just be her imagination since she only known the guy for one day four years ago. But for some odd reason she could sense that something was actually wrong with him, like he was grieving?

Aria jumped up into her feet and walked with a skip in her step acting like nothing just happened between the two. She stopped when she was directly in front of him and titled her head down below his so she was looking at his face. "What's wrong sour puss?"

Hiei's eyes shot open instantly turning into his signature glare. "You should leave if you value your life." Aria smiled. If he truly wanted to hurt her he would have done it when she splashed him with water. Which, by the way, he seemed almost dry, must have been the heat she felt when he walked passed.

"You know my father told me a lot of stories about you." She turned away from him and looked out toward the spring/pond, watching as the sun glistened off the slight shift of water from either the little to no wind that the water could feel, or from a fish coming up to snack on an unknowing bug. "Mostly that you are all talk but no bight." The only reply she got was a hn, which only made her wonder more about his situation. "The great Hiei Jaganashi is letting a little ten year old girl be rude to him and the only best reply he could come up with was a simple 'hn'!" Aria teased. He didn't reply. Okay, this seemed… wrong. All joking aside she took a step forward and cocked her head to the side as she truly looked at Hiei. "What's wrong?"

Still no reply.

Yeah, he wasn't going to tell her, so she decided to change the subject completely. "So… Gonna teach me The Dragon technique?" This caught his interest when he opened his eyes once more to look at her. But it wasn't a glare, which was progress.

"You will kill yourself."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

"Nope, nadda, zipadee…."

That made his eye twitch, (hehe). "You have no manipulation over fire whatsoever, so what makes you think you can master a technique that solely relies on fire alone?"

Aria smiled a smile she hardly ever used. It was something between a cocky smile and a smile that would be considered as the all knowing smile. Not quite cocky, but showing that she had complete and utter confidence in her own abilities. "Doesn't hurt to try, besides I've learned every other technique like the spirit wave, spirit sword, Kurama's manipulation over plants." Of course, she still hadn't fully mastered the spirit wave, and she can only hold a rose whip for so long before it goes back into its original form, but she believed with enough discipline that she too can learn The Darkness technique.

"I highly doubt it."

This made Aria throw her arms up into exasperation. "What will make you change your mind? I know I can do it, shorty!"

Another eye twitch. "If you can encase your own body in fire without it harming you in any way possible then maybe I'll consider it." Then his lip twitched up into a crocked smile. "But I know you will never achieve something of that measure."

That pissed off Aria to the extreme. She pointed her finger at him and gave him her own glare that was pretty pathetic to Hiei since it didn't match her baby, round shaped of a face. "I'll show you Hiei, after I win the Makai tournament I'll be able to do that and make you teach me The Darkness technique."

That almost made Hiei laugh.

* * *

Aria walked back with her two buckets of water in hand. Yusuke was waiting patiently for his daughter and when he caught sight of her he pushed himself off the tree he was leaning against. Not something you would usually find Yusuke doing to pass time but today was different. Today… this day affected everyone.

Yusuke watched Aria walk up with a new found determination set in her eyes. This lightened up his mood quite a bit, the last time he saw that in her eyes was when she came back from the first Makai tournament and trained almost mercilessly to become a great fighter. He wondered what new goal she will be adding this time.

"Yo," Yusuke said waving his hand as Aria made her way toward him and set the two buckets down. "You look happy?"

Aria stood straight up and placed both of her hands on her hips smiling widely. "You have no idea!" She began to snicker then slowly began to grow into an all out laugh.

Yusuke laughed with his daughter not having the slightest clue why she was laughing. "Oh, Hiei?" He said once he saw Hiei appear not to far from where they were standing. "Did you get…?" Hiei nodded. "Good, so it looks like we are all set to head out." Yusuke looked back down at his daughter and smiled. "Ready?"

Aria nodded her head wildly, the sparkle that Yusuke could never tire from present in her eyes. "Yessssssss!"

The portal was made not too far from Genkai's. Ever since the first Makai tournament it had been a lot easier to make a portal. The apparitions who make them don't have to spend the extra time or energy to bypass all the barriers that spirit world set up resulting in a delayed arrival to the Makai realm. Now, it only took a mere couple of minutes and BAM, a gateway to the demon world was open for any spirit level or demon level to pass through.

Aria looked at the portal, how much she loved the smell of it. It was the first smell of the Makai, it didn't have a distinctive smell but she always referred to it as her second home. "Ready to go, pipsqueak?"

"Ready as always," Aria said excitedly completely ignoring the rude comment.

All three jumped through the portal and in a matter of seconds Aria felt the dirt of the Makai grace her feet with comfort. She opened her eyes just now realizing that she closed them when she took the first leap and took in the glorious surroundings. The barren wasteland was quite pleasurable to her eyes.

" Urameshi," An all too familiar Monk said to the right of Aria. She turned around and saw Hokushin standing and staring at her father, then his eyes went to Hiei's where he greeted him as well (But adding the master in front instead). Then his eyes fell of Aria's a smile playing at the corner of his lips. "Ah, I'm glad to see you have made it Aria, everyone is expecting you."

Aria looked at him with confusion. "Why are they expecting me?"

"Master Mukuro has requested to see your presence in her last coming days."

Aria's eyes grew wide now realizing why everyone was acting so weird around her. Kurama, her father, and Hiei, they all knew that Mukuro… That Mukuro was dying? "B-but I don't understand?" Damn it, she stuttered. She never stuttered.

Hokushin looked up at a very solemn Yusuke mocking Aria's confusion. "You did not tell her?"

Yusuke shook his head and sighed. "I've always have a hard time telling someone about that certain topic." He thought back to the time he lost Genkai and how he kept it a secret from everyone until the day of the finals. Kuwabara was so pissed when he found out; he had the right to be.

Aria didn't say anything as she processed the new information. Mukuro was dying, she was dying and no one told her until now. Mukuro also wanted to see her for something, but what was that something? Mukuro is dying… Mukuro is dying… She was going to die… "Why does she want to – see me?" She finally got out, the shock apparent in her voice. She truly did not know how to react to this sort of information. She never knew anyone that was going to die…

Hokushin shook his head. "We do not know, she asked to see you today specifically and that's all she had said."

Aria shook her head and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to… to what? She just didn't know… She nodded her head at her father and Hokushin. "Okay, so when are we going to go?"

"Whenever you are ready," Yusuke said placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort. Aria knew he may be an idiot at times but he knew how to read her well when something was bothering her greatly.

It took all four, four hours to run to Mukuro's bug castle. Aria had to admit that she never been there before and it was starting to give her the creeps. Who in their right mind would want to live in a bug for crying out loud! Crap, that wasn't the time for her to be thinking such thoughts. Not when…

They walked inside. The castle was darker than her father's or Yomi's (which now belongs to Kurama, in a way), it felt like something was going to pop out of any shadow and attack her, which only made the goose bumps grow on her arms. She brought her hands up to either side of her arms and began to rub. Yusuke looked back at her and smiled a crock smile. "Cold, or just freaked out?"

Aria glared at him. "None of the above." She put on her brave face and stomped behind him trying her best to ignore the creepy shadows and walls that surrounded her. Not only that but the creepy looking demons as well, but they didn't bother her, it actually gave her more confidence and comfort to see that at least there was life inside the bug castles walls.

"Okay kiddo," Yusuke said as he leaned against the door to Mukuro's chambers. "Go see what she wants."

Aria nodded and walked up to the door placing her hand carefully on the door and then pushing ever so slightly. The door creaked open and Aria stepped inside, the door shutting behind her. Mukuro was lying in a bed in the center of the room. She looked to be sleeping, her eye was closed and the cloth that usually covers her left eye wasn't present at the moment. Aria walked over slowly eyeballing her as she did so. But to her surprise, Mukuro began to speak, "It's nice to see that you have come, Aria." She opened her one good eye and glanced over at her smiling. "You've grown since the last time I've seen you."

Aria nodded. "Tends to happen when you haven't seen a child in four years." She smiled at her trying to lighten up the mood. The room had a feeling of death looming through the air and it made her feel queasy to the stomach.

"As you can probably tell…" Mukuro stopped to cough, her face showing she was in pain. When she stopped she continued, "I'm dying." Mukuro smiled when she saw Aria's eyebrow twitch when she said dying. "You see…" But before Mukuro could finish Aria fast walked over to Mukuro and roughly grasped the sheets at the end of her bed, looking her straight in the eye.

"You can't die!" Aria yelled. "You promised to fight me in the Makai tournament. You can't back out now, you just can't!" Her voice held more emotion than she attended.

Mukuro smiled, a small laugh escaping her lips. "I've promised many things."

"Yeah, but you're not going to back out of this one. You better get better or… or…!"

"Or what?" Mukuro was, in a way, getting a kick out of this. She had softened up in the past years with Hiei. She didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad one.

"Or I'm going to follow you to afterlife and kick your ass!"

Mukuro placed her hand over her mouth trying hard to prevent herself from laughing. If she laughed as hard as she wanted to she would go into another fit of coughing. "You are just like your father, but I'm afraid I won't be well again. This is my time."

Aria shook her head. "No, you're a coward! You're being a big fat coward!" Even though Aria hardly ever knew the woman she couldn't help but feel dread for Mukuro. Why was she feeling like this? She hardly knew her, why, why did she feel like she wanted to cry. No. She won't cry, crying was for the weak! "What about Hiei! You can't just leave him, don't you love him?"

This caught Mukuro off guard. But she soon composed herself and gave Aria a… look. What the hell was that look? Aria had no idea. "Of course I love him, but he will move on." Aria shook her head, she knew all too well of their history from what her father told her. He didn't tell her about their past when they were younger, but that it was horrific and they find comfort in one another. If one died so did the other. Yusuke also told her that Hiei accepted death when he fought with the doctor that gave him the Jagan eye, but Mukuro saved him in a way. Now Hiei choose to stay at her side even though he doesn't have to. That says a lot in Aria's books, especially since she knew how Hiei acted… sort of.

"I doubt that, isn't it because of you that he chooses to live? Isn't it because of you…"

Mukuro interrupted her. "Please Aria," She began to cough again before continuing. "I… have a proposition for you…"

Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Hokushin waited patiently outside Mukuro's door. Aria was in there for a good thirty minutes now. Yusuke moved from one foot to the other, how badly he wanted to bust in and see what the heck was going on. He hated waiting.

The door opened slowly and Aria walked out, her eyes covered as she looked down toward the ground. Yusuke pushed himself off the wall and asked, "So?" She didn't say anything. Yusuke placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed ever so slightly. "What is it, what did she say?" He sounded concerned.

Aria shook her head. She lifted her head ever so slightly, her eyes wide with shook. "She… died…"

* * *

**(Sorry for the late update. Like I said in the last chapter that I was going to go through my other chapters and fixed my grammar but… As I was doing it on the website because I don't have it saved to my computer anymore… When I pressed saved… It asked me to log in… again. So, I didn't saved and my first chapter was pretty long and it made me mad so I decided to just do it again in the future because I wasn't in the mood to do it a second time. Then, I started to write this story. I write on my laptop and I took the battery out because it makes my computer heat up big time when I plug it in and as I was typing this I had about 2,000 words and my dog decided to trip the cord and make me lose about 1,500 words. This chapter had more detail, especially the Hiei and Kujou scene. But I'll make up for it in the next chapter. **

**Holy cow, SEVEN reviews, and it's only the 3****rd**** chapter! Sadly though, I'm really not in the mood to comment them all. But, I promise to do it in the next chapter so REVIEW. You know the drill!**

**I should be starting the Makai tournament next chapter... Don't know how many chapters its going to be but the updates will be consecutive, and then after that the Dark Tournament! I have it all planned out too, how it's going to work out, the drama between two men... YEAH! And hopefully still humorous. I just hope this chapter was still funny in a way still. )**


	5. Chapter Five: Oblivious

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Five: Oblivious

It had been a full year, give or take a couple of days, since the incident with Mukuro. Aria's life almost went back to normal, not counting the extensive training her father and Genkai was pitting her through. But, she loved every bit of it. She almost practically mastered the Spirit wave as well as Kurama's manipulation of plants, which, in her own opinion, she far exceeded his own abilities. Kurama had grown fascinated with Aria, something she doesn't quite understand. He's always testing her… Whatever, she doesn't really give a rat's ass about it.

On her days off and her father away to the Makai to do some "business" and Kurama tending to his own personal life, Aria would go to Genkai's to do some of her own training. She would venture into the woods on her own, far away from anyone and everything so she can have her own time; her own time to master some damn fire so she, too, can perform the dragon of the darkness flame.

The fire roared to life, growing until it reached about seven feet into the air. Aria stood in front of it watching as the flames flickered toward her, almost like it had a mind of its own and wanted to destroy Aria along with the forest around her. But, unfortunately, it didn't. She lifted her hand up and concentrated on the flame, her hand growing warm from the heat of the fire. She extended her hand forward, watching the flame bend back away from her touch like an invisible force field that engulfed her fist. Her hand was completely extended, a triumphant glow graced her features, but it soon dissipated when the flame seized control and back lashed to its rightful spot engulfing her fist.

Aria stifled a scream, something she was getting use to doing. This was, after all, not the first time she was burned. She quickly raced her hand back to her chest as she slightly cringed from the pain. She looked down to see the second degree burn that engulfed her hand and all the way up to her forearm. A small smile crept to her lips. She's getting closer to her goal, this time it wasn't a third degree burn, something she could easily heal on her own. When it was a third degree burn she would find herself seeking help from Yukina and then making her swear she wouldn't tell anyone of her plans. Yukina, and of course Mako, are the only two who know about her secret training. Mako could actually careless, but Yukina tried to talk her out of it every time the subject was brought up.

Something began to beep in her pocket. She turned away from the fire and walked away a couple of feet before reaching into her pocket and pulled up the purple communicator her father gave her for her last birthday. "What?" Aria asked, a bit annoyed from the interruption.

"Where the hell are you at?" Her father growled his own irritation clear on his face.

"I dunno…" Aria said sheepishly, nothing coming to mind.

"You don't know where you at?" Yusuke asked sarcastically. Then he shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly, "Well, if you don't want to go to the Makai today and to the dark tournament then I understand, you can wait next year to wat…" He almost said something he shouldn't but he was cut off by Aria before he could continue.

"Are you kidding me?" Aria yelled into the communicator and running over to the two buckets of water she filled before lighting the fire. "I'll be there in five!" She closed it and poured the water over the fire before running off toward Genkai's. She began to heal her injured hand with the spirit wave as she ran. Her speed had improved over the year. Now she can reach C class without much of an effort. Up next B, the A, The S, then double S, and then she's going to make a new class called tipple S! Yeah, that's right she was cool like that as she snickered wickedly at the thought.

Yusuke waited patiently for his daughter to arrive back at Genkai's. At first he didn't know she was even here. He just exited the portal back from the Makai and Genkai was standing there like she was expecting him. The only thing the old hag said was that his daughter was being an idiot in her forest a couple of miles away from her temple and not to waste the trip going home. He was a little disappointed in a way. He wanted to see Keiko again before he left the Makai. It's been a month since he last saw her, but three more days wouldn't kill her.

He sighed once he caught sight of Aria jogging up to him, the same old goofy smile present as always. "Well," He began placing his hands on his hips as he teased his daughter. "One more second there I was planning on leaving ya. What the hell took ya so long?"

Aria glared playfully toward her father. "Hey! I was going for a hike, is that so hard to do?"

Yusuke snickered and walked over to his daughter where he placed his arms around her small shoulders, pushing her along with him as they began to make their way to the portal. "You were taking a hike? Don't make me laugh."

Aria ducked away from his hold and ran a little ways ahead of him before calling behind her. "Whatever – Hey, wanna race?" She took off with speed toward the forest to the portal she detected on the way there. Yusuke chased after her easily catching up to her speed. He had to admit that her speed had increased greatly, but she still had a lot to learn before she was anywhere near his level.

But it still amazed him how much she had improved and with such little training. Sure, she trained almost every weekend, but when he started he trained everyday not caring if he missed school. And she was doing both at the same time like it was nothing. It amazed him even more that she was now getting straight A's and she doesn't even study anymore! Lucky little brat, probably found a way to cheat her way through school.

But in the back of his mind he knew that wasn't the case. He was greatly proud for his own daughter. She was really growing up to be something great. He didn't have a doubt in his mind that her future was going to be a bright one.

"Beat you!" Aria exclaimed as she pointed her finger at her own father in a mocking way, smiling wickedly like she accomplished something great.

"Yeah, you're getting pretty fast there kiddo, one of these days you may surpass your old man."

Aria stare hardened, but still held a hint of humor at her upcoming words. "May? More like will, I don't have any doubt in my mind about that."

This should have concerned Yusuke. Sure, she still held humor but her eyes showed a predatory aggression… Whatever, she was probably PMSing or something… Yusuke shivered at the thought. Don't think of that now, now wasn't the time to get grossed out and depressed…

"What's wrong?" Aria asked with a sly grin. "Chicken?" She turned toward the portal and waved her hands over her head for a reason Yusuke could not understand. "Here I go! See ya on the other side Old Man!" She jumped in, holding her nose as she did so like she was doing a cannon ball into water.

"Hey, hold up, not without me!" Yusuke yelled lunging forward after his daughter through the portal. Yusuke landed on the other side, waiting there was Hokushin and his two fellow monks… He can never remember the names of the other two. Eh, who cared?

Hokushin bowed his head once the two finally noticed him. "Master Yusuke, and Ms. Aria are you two ready for the departure?"

Aria nodded her head with excitement as she ran up to him jumping up and down repeatedly once standing in front of him. "Let's get this show on the row. I'm ready to kick some demon ass!" She ran passed the three and off into the distance.

Hokushin and the other two looked at her dumbfounded, and then Hokushin turned his attention to Yusuke, almost glaring at him in a way. "You didn't tell her that she cannot participate?"

Yusuke scratched his head sheepishly. "Um, about that…"

Hokushin sunk his head down and sighed. "You know she's going to create quite a fuss when she finds out. Better tell her now before we arrive."

Yusuke walked passed them after his daughter and waved his hand behind him toward the three. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I have it all planned out."

One of the other two monks leaned in and whispered into Hokushin's ear. "Does Ms. Aria even know where the tournament is being held? She's just running over there with her… how do humans say it… with her head cut off?"

Hokushin sighed as he watched Aria run almost in a circle as she tried to think of where to head next, completely unaware of where she was suppose to go. "Not in the least bit."

The next stop was Yomi's castle, or more preferably, Kurama's castle where they "picked" up Kurama and any other who wanted to participate in the tournament. Then Jin, Chu, Renku, and Touya where the next to pick up, or more likely they ran into them on the way to the tournament by accident; Aria, of course, greeted Jin with far to open arms then Yusuke liked, but he kept his cool as the two chit chat about whatever nonsense they talk about. He couldn't even follow half the time, but Aria understood him completely.

"Race you, Jin!" Aria took off running after the stadium came into view. Jin chased after her both laughing as they ran. Of course Jin caught up to her easily surpassing her in a flash, her face becoming flushed with playful irritation as Jin turned around in front of the stadiums door with his head cocked up, hands placed firmly behind his head as he pivoted on air with his right foot showing off his cocky grin.

"I almost had you!" Aria huffed as she stopped in front of him crossing her arms as she did so.

"Yer sure have gotten faster in the last year I been last seeing you, you'll be mighten strong when you be reachin' your fathers age. I can bet on that yes sir."

Aria grinned brightly. "You think so?"

Jin nodded making Aria jump up and down in excitement. "But today," She said when she stopped bouncing and pointed a finger at Jin. "I'm going to participate in the dark tournament and win! I will defeat my father today!" She smiled with complete and utter ignorance, her true age showing.

Jin looked at her confused, but when he opened his mouth to say something Yusuke and the rest walked up, Yusuke shouting for Aria. "What the hell did I tell you earlier?" He yelled, crossing his arms as he gave his daughter a stern look.

Aria mimicked his posture, crossing her arms and giving him the same look. "I don't have any idea what you are talking about!" She lied.

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Don't start with me, Aria. I have a lot on my mind at the moment."

"Whatever," Aria said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders and turning away from him to look at the entrance of the stadium, her eyes gleaming with joy and anticipation. "I'll just beat the tournament then you can't boss me around anymore." Aria could have sworn she heard some people fall over from her words. Chu began to laugh hysterically at something Aria didn't understand. She turned back around and glared at everyone. "What?"

Once Chu finally gained control of his laughter he began to speak. "You didn't know squirt, that you have to be a demon to join the tournament?"

Aria felt her jaw hit the ground in complete and utter surprise? She probably stood there for what felt like forever staring at the men before her. Then her attention turned toward her father giving him the full force of her glare. "And you KNEW THIS!" Aria roared, stomping over toward him with her fist raised.

Yusuke stood his ground as he watched his outraged daughter stomp toward him ready to punch his face in. She stopped mere inches away from him, her teeth bared as they slightly grind against each other with frustration. "I'm sorry Aria, but…" But before he could continue, Aria cut him off.

"But what? You knew all along that I couldn't participate and yet you pushed me and made me believe in a lie!" Aria was outraged.

"Well, I didn't mean to! I thought you would just forget when you were younger, not make it your lifelong dream!"

"And yet you continued on with the lie! Do you have any idea how this makes me feel?"

"I'm sorry Aria, how many times do you want me to say it!"

"I can't believe you!" Aria threw her arms in the air with exasperation. All of that time training, she felt like she wasted half her life for nothing.

Then a thought popped in her head. She tried with all her might not to smile.

She turned back around and glared at her father, but her face softened up a bit. Yusuke sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Look, I'll make it up to you, alright? I promise."

"You made a lot of promises that you didn't keep," She scuffed. She shrugged his hand off her shoulder and walked over to the doors of the stadium. "I'll be inside looking for Koenma. I know he's the one you were going to choose to dump me on."

Yusuke called out her name but she was already gone. He truly felt bad for his daughter, and she was right he should have told her the truth from the beginning. But after watching her train, and how she learned the spirit wave in only a months' time, he couldn't help but not tell her the truth. He was so proud of his daughter when he saw her perceiver through complications that would take him months to accomplish and she would do it in as little as a week. He was afraid of this day, and to tell the truth he actually thought it was going to be a lot worse than that. He was actually happy with the outcome, he didn't have to beat her ass through a portal so she wouldn't try to wreck havoc on anyone in her path.

Chu patted Yusuke on the shoulder. "Touch luck, can't tell you how much I feel sorry for ya bub, especially after the tournament is settled with and all she did was watch on the sidelines."

"Yeah, that makes me feel loads better," Yusuke sighed further and sulked toward the doors of the stadium. Still, it will take a lot of explaining to do for his daughter to trust him ever again. But things will get better. After all, he was her father.

Aria sat impatiently next to Botan and Koenma as she watched her father draw the section he was in. When he turned back around he looked up at the three and Aria instantly looked away. Once she felt his eyes off her she glanced back down toward the drawing box and watched her father go toward the section he was in. Up next was Hiei, he walked toward the box with his hands in his pants and his sword hanging loosely on his back. He wasn't wearing his cloak and his arms were covered in bandages like usual. She watched him place his right hand into the box and draw a number. When he turned around Aria instantly noticed the bags under his eyes, he tried to hide his tiredness with his indifferent expression, but Aria had a very keen eye and saw through his façade.

Hiei glanced up at her and their eyes locked momentarily. She smiled and waved at him but he looked away instantly and walked over toward his section. She frowned and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry to hear that you had to find out the day of the tournament." Koenma's annoying voice said from the far right of her.

She sighed heavily again before replying. "Whatever."

Aria grabbed her stomach as the uneasiness returned. That's strange, but this was the perfect time to set her plan into play.

She hunched over and began to moan with pain as she clutched her stomach. Botan placed her hand gently on Aria's back. "Are you alright, dear?"

Aria shook her head. "No, I need to go to the bathroom."

Botan looked at her with surprise before placing her hand on her mouth and began to lightly fake cough as she realized what Aria was inquiring at. "Well, demons don't have indoor plumping like humans do I'm sorry to say."

"What?" Aria asked as she faked a shocked expression. "Are you serious?" She whined. Botan nodded. Aria sighed heavily and stood up as she glanced around her mumbling under her breath about trying to find a large enough bush to hide in.

Botan stood up after her. "I'll come with you."

"NO!" Aria yelled, putting up her hand into Botan's face which in return received a quizzical look. Aria mouth hung open after realizing what she had just done. Aria straightened herself, placed her hand on her mouth as she coughed as well from the embarrassing moment. "I mean, this isn't going to turn out good. I mean this is really, really, really, bad. I had taco's last night."

Botan's face turned a dark blue as a thought crossed her mind. Then she began to slowly laugh as she sat down just as slowly. "Okay dear, I'll come looking for you if you don't come back before the tournament starts."

Aria nodded and headed down the stairs and toward the crowd of demons. Yes, she still had a small stomach ache which she did, in a way, questioned why, but she put it in the back of her mind as she walked with determination toward the registration booth.

She pushed her way through the crowd of demons, most had a horrid smell which caused Aria to hold her breath from the putrid smell. At least until she began to fake gage as she walked past most as she received unusual glares and stares as she passed making noises. Others just simply stared at her. In return she glared at them back sticking her tongue out to some.

She walked with others down a hall into a crowded hallway. "You have twenty minutes before the registration booth will be closed." An announcer said over the speakers causing demons to yell and push their way through the crowd.

"This is bullshit!", "Get the fuck out of my way!", "Watch it…", "What the hell…" Demons yelled to one another. There was already a fight brewing in the middle of the hallway due to a demon cutting in line. Actually, there were a couple of fights brewing. Aria, on the other hand, didn't have a problem steering through the crowd of demons due to her small stature. She ducked under swinging arms, squeezed her way through oddly shaped demons, and crawled under the legs of others. She finally made it to the front of the crowd where she peeked her head over the top of the booth.

"I want a number!" She yelled up to the spiky red demon who was writing frantically in his notebook. He looked up from his writing and looked back and forth, and then his eyes glanced down toward the little girl who was staring at him with sparking eyes. He cleared his throat.

"What is your name, ma'am…" He stopped in midsentence and sniffed the air before his eyes, once again, landed on the little girl in front of him. Even with a red face he seemed to be flustered about something. He cleared his throat again, but this time it seemed to be more from embarrassment than annoyance. "You have a lot of guts coming out here being in the state you are in. Name please?"

Aria gave him a confused look but decided to ignore him. She was going to join the tournament! This idiotic demon thought she too, was a demon! "My name is… uh…" She can't say Aria, then her father would find out, or someone else and pull her out of the tournament. She had to think of something else, hurry, think! "Aragorn!" She half yelled.

"Aragorn?" The spiky demon asked, dumbfounded. When Aria nodded he shrugged his shoulders and began to write in his notebook once more. "Your personal number will be 20,126, please head toward the stadium and draw your group number. Then head over toward your group and give your personal number to the group leader." He handed Aria a slip of paper that had her number on it and gave his attention to the next demon in line.

Aria walked away slowly looking at her slip of paper. She can't believe it. She was going to participate in the tournament! And her father said that she couldn't because she was a human! Well, he was wrong. She will be the first human to participate in the dark tournament.

But what Aria didn't know was as she walked away she began to draw attention from demons waiting impatiently in line as they sniffed the air when she passed. They watched her walk away with hunger growing in their eyes.

Aria began to feel a slight burning sensation in the pit of her stomach. She clutched her belly and stopped in her tracks. Well, that was strange, she felt strange… She never felt like this before. Her head began to grow foggy, her feet felt like jell-o as she struggled to stay on two feet. Then, suddenly, she felt a strong grip grab her shoulder and turn her around sharply pushing her up until her back hit the cold wall behind her.

"Well, what do we have here? A little girl going into her first cycle?" A two tone voice said. Aria opened her eyes to see a demon with three rows of teeth, ten eyes, and blue skin and extremely tall as he towered over her with dominance. "Only a fool comes to a crowd full of the most powerful demons. Males demons."

Aria glared up at him but utterly confused at what he was saying. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The demon laughed, not believing what he was hearing. "Oh, this is priceless. You're mother and father must be idiots."

This angered Aria. She took a step forward and swung her arm in front of her with defiance. "My father can kick your ass," she yelled then glared at all the other demons circling around her. "And the rest of you."

The blue demon grabbed her shoulder once more and pushed her against the wall with a painful grip. "Oh, yeah? And where is your father at right now?"

"He's fighting in the tournament, and I'm here to defeat him and win the crown for myself!"

This made all the demons around her laugh hysterically. Aria glared at all of them, her face growing red with anger. "We'll it looks like you're not going to be participating this year, and when I'm done with you, you probably won't be able to participate next year as well." His other hand reached out grasping her shirt in his grasp. Aria kicked her leg out, but when she made contact with his stomach he didn't flinch.

But before Aria could even think, within a flash she was out of the demons grasp, blood spraying into the air as the blue demon fell backwards with his arm landing next to him detached. The demon yelled in pain as he gasped in pain and looked up toward the one who did the damage to him. Her heart sped up when she saw spiky hair, but soon realized it wasn't the familiar grayish, blue hair she grew to love, but instead was black.

Hiei stood close in front of her protectively, his sword unsheathed as it dripped with dark blue blood from its previous victim. Aria could feel the heat of his body against hers, she breathed in deeply once she finally realized what had just happened. Hiei had saved her and she was about to chew him out, but from inhaling deeply to bash on Hiei she stopped short as she began to sniff the air, more so toward Hiei than anywhere else.

Oh… Hiei smelled good - really, really good.

* * *

**(Gah! This took forever to re-write! I did change a few things though, like the last time I wrote this I had her go through her first fight of the tournament and I had this really, really, really, funny phrase I had her say. Almost all of you will know where this phrase came from, too. I think it's funny and I hope you guys will think so too. I decided to take the fighting scene out because I wanted to give it more detail and I promised a chapter tonight, so I just cut it out. The next chapter will come out Friday/Saturday at the latest! Why? Because I have those two days off from work. Hehe, yes, I tis evil.**

**Just 2 Dream of You – And this time I got 10! Wow, can't believe that. Mukuro is one of my favorite characters, she will play a big role in later chapters, ;).**

**Kagome141414 – Hey, I know you! You are an "old" reviewer of mine from other stories. I'm glad to see that you enjoy this story as well, :). **

**DDarkness – Sorry for the long update. Yet again I had some technical difficulties, but I promise not to leave this story hanging. I will finish it!**

**Destiny – Sorry for your heart to have to wait so long, :(, seems like everyone is sad about Mukuro.**

**LunarMoon55- I'm glad that you liked the poking part, there will be more fun with Hiei in later chapters, lol.**

**Crazy. Indeed – Sadly, no one will know what Mukuro had said until a couple of chapters later, but mystery always makes readers come back to read more, :). I'm glad to see you are still reading my story!**

**Takara Rose Oizumi – Here's more! Lol**

**HappyAlways – Haha, well you will know soon enough just not in this chapter, :p.**

**Kungfupandabear – Yeah, I know there's a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes, but I just don't have the time to go back and read through all of it. One day I will though. I'm glad to see you like to read my story as well!**

**Unanimated – I was excited to see all of your reviews on each chapter! I'm also glad to see that you like my story as well as everyone else who is reading as well. I always like to see new reviewers when a new chapter is updated. **

**Review! But I still can't believe I have 28 reviews! I have something in store for the next chapter and it's going to be funny, I think. I tried to keep Aria in "age character" you know, not trying to make her sound too old for her age or too young, but still having that ignorant bliss of an eleven year old. Also, I know that you can't have a name when you're giving me an unsighed review, but if you do just indicate who you are like for instance, HappyAlways can sign the end of the review so I know who is is, :).)**


	6. Chapter Six: Idiotic

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Six: Idiotic

His smell was intoxicating. Aria leaned in and took another long drag of a smell from his shirt, her legs feeling like jell-o. Then she stopped, realizing what she is doing. What the hell was wrong with her? If she was suppose to be sniffing someone it was suppose to be Kujou, not Hiei! Ugh!... Come on! What the hell!?

She brought her hand to her noise as she tried her best to block out the scent, even though she really, really, really didn't want to, she had too. Hiei sheathed his sword back behind his back and looked down at the squabbling blue demon not saying a word. "What the hell is wrong with you?" The demon roared as she stood but still holding his now stump of an arm.

"I let you off easy, if Urameshi found out you rapped his own daughter your torture would be unimaginable," Hiei seethed as his glared intensified on the demon before him.

The blue demon's eyes grew wide as well as everyone else around. "I-I didn't know she was Yusuke's brat." He stammered backing away from the infamous Hiei. "I-it won't happen again, promise!" The blue demon squealed as it ran down the hallway and out of sight.

What the hell was that all about? Why were they afraid of her father? He wasn't that great. Yeah, sure, he was strong and all but she couldn't see him every being threatening. She thought back to times she ever saw her father ever get angry, which wasn't very often. Even if he did grow angry, he would soon soften and give her chocolates and such. He always hated punishing her.

Aria was brought back to reality when Hiei turned sharply on his heel and glared down at Aria. "You have grown idiotic over the year." Hiei then wrinkled his noise when he took a whiff on air in front of her. "Extremely idiotic."

Aria matched his glare. "Hey! You have no right to say that!"

"I have every right." He took a step toward her. Aria took a step back as her back yet again hit the hard, cold wall behind her. Hiei smashed his fist into the wall beside her head as he brought his face toward hers menacingly. "You have no right being here, child. You're just going to get yourself killed. Unless, of course, you want to die." His other hand reached for his sword as the words left his mouth.

Strangely enough, this wasn't the first time Aria was in the position with Hiei.

_Aria was in a state of shock as she made it back to the human world after watching Mukuro die. Her words still circled around Aria's head, the meaning to them only made her head hurt, she didn't understand what she meant by them. _

_Her father was quiet as he silently watched her. Aria could feel his eyes on her time to time and it made her slightly uncomfortable, but she choose to ignore it. For once in her life she was in complete lose for words. Once back to Genkai's she went alone toward the woods without saying a word to no one. Her father let her go, knowing she had to think things through on her own. She made it to the pond where the willow tree that she absolutely loved awaited for her. She walked over toward it but before she could even sit down for one measly second, a black figure appeared in front of her cutting off her path to the all inviting, comfortable looking tree. _

_Aria stopped and glared up at Hiei. Right that second she really didn't want to deal with his dark demeanor, she had too much on her mind to deal with him. "What the hell Hiei, can't you give a girl a break before popping out of thin air like popcorn!" Aria practically yelled her frustration with how today was going showing in her voice._

_Hiei didn't play around, he got straight to the point. Apparently, he didn't want to deal with Aria's stupidity either. "What did Mukuro ask of you?" Aria looked away from him. _

"_How do you know she asked me something?" She scuffed. _

_Hiei took a step forward and Aria took a step back. His eyes turned into slants as he watched her move away from him. "I'm not in the mood to play games with you, child."_

_Aria matched his glare. "And I'm not a child."_

_Hiei took another step forward but this time Aria stood her ground. She looked up at him her glare not wavering as Hiei seethed at her with his ruby red eyes. Then, suddenly, she found herself on her back and a rather sharp sword pressed ever so slightly against her neck. Aria gasped when she hit the ground, but as soon as her mind caught up to her, her glare deepened as she spat profanity up toward Hiei. Of course, Hiei didn't give a damn about what she was saying to him and about him, all he cared about was what Mukuro asked or told her before she passed. _

"_Don't make me ask again, I don't like to repeat myself."_

"_Fuc…" Aria began to spat but…_

_Hiei's hand made contact with her cheek making her head fly to the right like they do in the movies. "D-d-did you," Aria stuttered as she turned her head back up to look at Hiei. "Did you just smack me?" Aria was in shock, no one ever hit her… except for her mother of course, but that was her mother! Hiei was certainly not her mother, or even related to her in any way! "You stupid short-ass bastard!" Aria roared as she squirmed underneath his grasp. But Hiei had one knee on her chest, the other on the right side of her, and his right hand that was the one that previously slapped her was now grasping her arms above her head, and his left held his sword where he had it pressed gently against her neck. "I promised!" Aria finally screamed at him when Hiei loosened his grip on her hands in another attempt to smack her._

"_Promised?" _

_Aria looked away from him. She hated the feeling of someone holding dominance over her. She hated it with a passion. "I promised that I wouldn't tell anyone. She said you would do something like this." Aria said through gritted teeth. _

_Hiei… chuckled. Aria looked up at him and saw his eyes were closed and he actually had a smile on his face. "What the hell is so funny?"_

"_You're going to break your promise to her." He said when he opened his eyes and looked at the child, his smile turning into a sneer. "If you value your life…"_

"_Sorry," Aria sighed closing her eyes in defeat. Something she hated even more, but she knew when she wasn't suppose to ass around when someone was ready to kill her at any moment. Of course, she knew he wouldn't do such a thing since he respected her father more than a little secret. "But I can't. You will find out eventually, everyone will, but for now I need to keep my mouth shut. Besides, it doesn't make any damn sense to me anyways." _

_The pressure on her neck, stomach and wrist was released and Aria sat up as she watched him walk a couple of feet away from her and look toward the ground in thought. Aria stood up and began to rub her wrists, he had a good grip they were already starting to turn red. Damn, how was she suppose to explain this to her mother, especially her father. 'Um, sorry dad but Hiei forced me onto my back, held me by the wrists and threatened me to tell him something I didn't completely understand myself.' Yeah, that would go over wonderfully. _

"_Look," Aria began, her voice softening as she took a step forward with her hand behind her head as she scratched tiredly. "I'm sorry for… your lose… Look, if it makes ya feel any better, she cared for you… Yeah… whatever." Damn, she really sucked at this. But before she could say anything more he was gone. _

She saw him a couple more times after that but they never spoke of that day ever since. The only thing she ever said to him was that she was growing stronger and one of these days he was going to teach her the dragon of the darkness flame technique. At first, he didn't say anything to her, just ignored her, but after a couple of months of her constantly pestering him every time she saw him he would respond with a "hn", or repeated that she would die.

Now, she found herself this time pinned against the wall and a sword pressed against her neck again. Aria sighed, they weren't getting anywhere. "You're a jackass, you know that?" No response. She sighed, yet again. "Okay look dumbass, I've been waiting for this moment since I was five, don't you dare take this away from me. If you think I'm gonna die, then by all means give me mercy and kill me yourself if you think that's best."

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity for Aria, but the announcer soon cut through their staring contest saying, "You have less than three minutes to draw your group number. If you don't make it by then, then to bad, so sad, best of luck next year."

Hiei brought his sword back from her neck as he took a step back sheathing it behind his back. "You will wish that I had given you that mercy when you're being tortured for all to see." And like that, just like last time, he disappeared leaving her alone. Aria shook her head and remembered she had less than three minutes before she took off running toward the stadium, but before she could burst through the crowd and into the stadium, she had to take precaution. After all, she didn't want her father or anyone else to see her entering the tournament and ruining her fun. Thankfully, there was a crowd of demons that were trying to get their group tickets before the timer ran out. Aria, like before, hid in the crowd of demons ducking through legs, squeezing through the tiniest holes until she made it to the drawing box. As she passed demons stared at her with curiosity as they sniffed the air around her, she tried her best to ignore them.

She slowly walked up to where she had to draw her group number watching as she made her way up making sure no one noticed her. The demon who was coordinating the group picking box eyed her weirdly but didn't say anything to her when she reached her hand in and pulled her number. "60!" Aria half yelled with excitement as she walked over to her group. There all the demons yet again watched her curiously, some even coming up to her and sniffing the air around her. "Oh," one began licking his lips. "This is going to be fun."

Aria glanced over her shoulder, smirking. "Yes, this will be for me." She laughed a wicked life, like she had something under her sleeve and everyone around her gave her a strange look like she was crazy.

"Okay everyone," the feminine, girly voice chirped into her microphone as she sat on top her eyeball floating thingy looking down at the hoard of demons waiting to draw blood. "Now if everyone comes with me in an orderly fashion we can get to the gruesome awesomelishious blood bath!" Everyone followed her instructions following her to the gravity defying islands that the Makai tournament called the battle grounds. As they all waited for the buzzer to go off they all eyeballed one another taking in on who to kill first.

Aria yawned as she waited impatiently for the damned buzzer. What the hell are they waiting for? She glanced around taking in all the demons that were staring at her with hungry eyes, some even began to lick their lips. Aria gave them all a disgusted stare and rolled her eyes making some agitated.

Koto's voice range over the speakers, her voice full of excitement, "Everyone is now in place! Let the bloodshed begin and don't forget to make the last kill while on camera everyone in the audience loves the gore just as much as I do!"

Aria ducked from view doing her crawl tactics once again. She wasn't stupid, she knew she wouldn't had a chance taking all these demons on at once. Even now she couldn't handle her father in a one on one fight and these demons are almost just as strong. She'll wait until they weed out and use all their stamina on one another. She crawled over to some trees and jumped into one. She turned around and watched the bloodshed continue before her eyes. She had to admit seeing heads sever before her eyes were pretty gruesome, a lot gorier than TV.

"Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, Jin, and Touya have defeated all their challengers, they will be heading on to the next round!" Koto's voice screeched. Aria looked dumbfounded, it had only been about a minute and they already won?

She started to have doubts.

But, like an idiot, she smiled at the thought. All she had to do was outsmart them, wait until the end when they were tired and take the win. They were all old after all and by statistics, she had more stamina than them. At least, that was what her teacher said.

She waited for about a half an hour, but felt like fifty hours to her because she was extremely impatient. At last, there was only one demon left. She watched him from a distance as he stood there smelling the air, searching for her. He was a lizard demon, brown skin with a with hue across his face. Blue eyes and feathers for hair; he wore ragged clothing nothing too fancy like other fighters.

Aria thought she had an advantage against him; he couldn't see her or know where she was at. He was warn down and tired looking, so she thought she could easily sneak up on him and deliver the final blow. Of course not kill him, that's something her father taught her, not to kill unless it was necessary.

She slowly crawled down her tree but as soon as her foot touched the ground the air around her changed and before she knew it she was flying through the air breaking down trees as she flew by. When she finally skidded to a halt her right leg and arm was broken in different spots and she coughed up blood, her mind reeling over what just happen.

She made a mistake.

"Now, now," the lizard demon said stepping forward toward her, a wicked smile on his face. "I knew you were hiding there from the very beginning, your stench could be smelled a mile away."

Aria grimaced, damn this heat thing wasn't playing in her favor. Of course when did she ever thing it would? After what Yukina told her she should be worried out of her mind right now. But Aria was too stupid and oblivious to know any different. After all, she was a kid still. Smart, but still stupid.

The lizard demon grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up so his face was near hers. "Now what should we do now? Defile you right here and now, or save you from the torture and just kill you?" Aria spat at his face and his smile ceased. He smacked her across the face with disgust. "You're not my type anyways. I like mine tall, blonde, and big fat boobs. You on the other hand are lacking in all departments." His smiled returned. "A pity though, you probably would have grown to be quite a looker, it's a pity to waste such a pity face. I would say don't underestimate your opponent next time but I'm afraid there won't be a next time, darling."

Aria then smile, a small snicker escaped her lips. "What so funny child? Finally lost your mind in your final seconds? Jeesh, you're easy to break, I might just be doing you a favor."

Aria shook her head but continued to smile. "You should take your own advice, never underestimate your opponent." She placed her finger against his stomach her smirk widening. "Especially if you don't know who her father is and what technique they have in common." Aria's finger began to glow a white light and before the lizard demon could react she blasted the biggest spirit gun she ever had done before while yelling, "Say hello so my little friend!" Hehe, scar face was one of her favorite movies while growing up.

The lizard demon didn't have any time to react before he went flying through the air not even being able to put up a defense block in anyway. He took a spirit gun straight in the stomach, something that was bound to leave some damage.

Aria fell to the ground, her face hitting the hard dirt beneath her. "Ugh," Aria began rolling on her back. "I hate face plants, they hurt." She rubbed her face with her good arm and winced from pain from the sudden movement.

"I can't believe it," Koto's voice ran through the air in disbelief. "The last match has finally ended." This time Aria winced not from pain but from dread of realizing that her father was most likely watching this match at that very second. They always had the last match going on in the big screen. "Aragorn won the match by sheer luck people. But it looks like she may not be continuing to the next round."

Aria stuck her tongue out to the flying eyeball the was slowing making its way to her. She pointed her good had at it and said, "You have another thing coming stupid fox, I'm going to win t…this…" Her vision began to blur as she finally fell into darkness from her injuries.

**(Yes, I know it's short. I've been busy lately… You see I'm writing a book and taking my time with it. Well, I haven't started writing it yet I've wrote the outline, characters list etc. I want to get everything down before I start writing. I'm using the snowflake method, you guys should look it up if you want to start writing a book but don't know where to start. I also have a website up about it and I would appreciate it if you would check it out. Without spaces it's www . unanimated . com. I think you guys will like this book because the main character name is Aria ( :) ) And she has the same personality as the Aria in this story, but more grown up and real like. Please check it out, I would appreciate it. **

**Crazy, indeed – Haha, happens to me too, I've actually done that recently with a story as well. Sorry this took so long, just had my mind on other things. **

**Kungfupandabear – I'm glad your enjoying it I hope this one is still funny as well.**

**N. – I'm glad you think my story is still unique, I tried my best to do so and I'm excited to see my work being a success so far. **

**LadyEvangeline – Sorry for the long wait, I hope you're still going to continue reading. :(**

**HappyAlways – lol Aria is eleven right now.**

**DDarkness – Hopefully some questions are answered, (and more arouse lol). **

**I have a lot of making up to do with you guys. If I ever do "abandon" this story I will give you the outline of what I had planned in later chapters so you guys can work your imagine. But I highly doubt it, I love this story so much. I'll see you next week, and this time I promise! Maybe even sooner. REVIEW!**

**Oh yeah, I changed my username to 9thDimen because on other websites I use that username including fictionpress.)**


	7. Chapter Seven: Lightening

**(I have not read through this as of yet so there will be a lot of mistakes. I'll fix them tomorrow.)**

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Seven: Lightening

Aria waited patiently as she was hauled on a stretcher away from the arena. She was ecstatic that she won the match but also pissed that she probably wouldn't be able to continue. After making the final blow she fell unconscious from the pain and injuries she had endured. She woke up to medics healing her and making their way back to the clinic.

Of course, she already knew what was waiting for her.

"YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT! WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING?" Yusuke practically screeched in her ear when she arrived. Aria looked over at him with her toothy smile, then her smile turned to a frown when she saw the condition he was in. Not a scratch on him.

She jutted out her lip not from being yelled at but because she felt weaker than everyone else around her. Damn it! When was she going to grow stronger? "If you're looking for an apology you're not going to get one," Aria squeaked out. It was very difficult to speak at the moment.

"If you weren't already half dead I would beat the shit out of you right now," Yusuke eyes glared down at his daughter furiously but behind the angry mask he was worried out of his mind when he saw his daughter on the big screen.

He just arrived from his own match watching as Kurama and Hiei making it back as well. He walked over to them to speak but they didn't acknowledge him when he was in front of him. Instead they were looking at the screen mouths wide open in disbelief. But what made Yusuke stop was a familiar voice echoing through the Stadium.

"Say hello to my little friend!" Under normal circumstances he would have thought the movie quote was quite hilarious. He would have laughed and wondered why he didn't come up with it himself when he shot off his spirit gun. But this wasn't a normal circumstance, no, his own damn daughter was fighting in the Makai Tournament against his own wishes.

Koto's voice rang through the audience announcing Aria was the winner of the last match on round one. Yusuke's eyes shifted toward the all too familiar fox demon, eyes beaming with anger.

After the fox made her announcement she took a big gulp of air and let it out slowly. She whapped the back of her arm across her sweaty forehead and looked up. A small yelped escaped through the microphone and Yusuke voice cursing the fox out. He had her by the collar, his face only inches away from hers.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? That little girl up there is a human girl! Not a demon!" He shook her viciously, her head bobbing back and forth.

"B-B-BUT," Koto stuttered, finally Yusuke stopped shaking her letting her get a word in before he kicked her ass. "I'm not the one who decides who enters or not!" She slaps his hands away from her collar, fixing herself and dusting herself off. "And the last time I checked we only allow demons into the arena. If we are not entirely sure if they are a demon we take a blood sample. So obviously," She glared at Yusuke who now looked at her dumbfounded. "Your daughter is a half demon like you. And if I remember correctly, which I am, after all, a walking rule book and am always right, age doesn't matter as long as you have demon blood running through your veins!"

He stood there processing what she just said. His own daughter was a half-demon like himself.

A Half-demon just like him…

Okay, his daughter is just like him. He told himself he was prepared or a day like this. But now that it was here, he forgot everything he told himself to do.

But it didn't give her an excuse to disobey him. No, he was going to give her a mouth full when he saw here. And just on cue, she came in on a stretcher with healers already working on her.

After hearing her father curse every word in the book she was more than happy to see the clinic shut the door behind her not allowing anyone in as they healed her more serious injuries.

She sprawled out her arms. "Just as long as you don't poke me with inanimate objects, like a needle, you can do whatever you want to me."

"You're a brave little girl," One of the nurses said with green skin and bright orange hair. Aria didn't notice anything wrong with her. To Aria, the nurse looked normal. "You can handle so much pain. I've seen others who would be crying to be put under during the healing process."

"Yeah, well, you have to be tough if you want to be ruler of the Makai one day. Anyways, my father's been through worse."

"Yes, you must be very proud of your father."

Aria snorted but didn't say anything more. Yes, she was indeed proud of her father, but…

"Wait, sir, you can't come in!" Aria looked up to see someone walk into the clinic.

"Kujou," She said delightfully her heart skipping a beat. "You're here."

He brushed passed the nurses ignoring them completely. "You should know me by now, there's no way I would ever miss a tournament. Not unless I'm dead."

Aria laughed. "Did you see my fight? I kicked ass."

Kujou laughed as well. "Seems you sustained more damage than your opponent."

Aria jutted her lip out showing that he hurt her feelings. "I still won though."

Kujou smiled and walked over to her. He sat down at the edge of her bed but didn't dare sit any closer. She thought it was just because she was hurt and he didn't want to hurt her.

"You did great out there."

"I know."

She opened her mouth to say something else, but shut it immediately once she caught the smell of Kujou. He… He didn't smell good… not as good as Hiei did. Wait, what the hell was going on? She leaned forward and sniffed again, he smelled weird…

"What's wrong?" He asked confusion showing on his face.

"Um, uhhhhhhh," She scratched her head fake laughing as she did so. "N-nothing, it's just that uh, you smell, uh, really good!" She lied.

He smiled, scooting ever so closer to her placing his hand onto her slightly bruised one. "I could say the same thing about you." He soon stood up when someone else walked into the room.

"Hey, fire crotch," Aria teased a little surprised to see him entering before her dad after he calmed down to proclaim his punishment.

"I prefer you didn't call me that."

Aria snorted, "Its true isn't it?"

Kurama ignored her and turned his attention toward Kujou. "I will have to say I'm surprised to see you here. Checking on Aria's condition?"

"Of course," Kujou said smoothly. "Yusuke is a good friend of mine, it would be common for me to get well acquainted with Aria as well. Besides," he smiled tuning toward Aria causing her cheeks to turn a slight pink that Kurama picked up on. "We've sparred occasionally, I wanted to congratulate her on her first win."

Kurama nodded, his face expressionless. "Of course."

Kujou nodded his head at the two and walked out. Kurama turned sternly toward Aria, his eyes looked at her almost accusingly. "You should know that it is not wise to be that… close with one of Yusuke's comrades, especially one of his age."

Aria's face turned a bright red. "I have no idea what you are talking about! There's nothing going on between us!" Her lying was terrible. She looked away from Kurama jutting her lip out. "Besides, from what I heard it's different when you're a demon."

"Yes, but you are mostly human and grown in a human society…"

"Shut the bull crap, okay?" Aria interrupted sitting up slowly. "I know where I grew up at and I also know where I belong and that isn't in the human world."

"You know that's not true."

Aria rolled her eyes. She propped up her legs to her chest and laid he chin on of her knees. "How would you know what goes on in my life?"

Kurama chuckled, finding the question ironic. "You know I was once your age as well. Knowing things that other humans could even fathom. It's a burden to not tell…"

"Did you have people look at you like your some kind of freak!?" Aria interrupted once more her face retorted with an inner pain. "Like you don't belong anywhere and no one really cares what you are feeling as they call you names?" Aria shook her head and sighed. "Of course you don't, you lived a perfect life. Smart, handsome, always got good grades." Then, she began to smile. "Do you know what, just forget what I said. Things will get better," she repeated what her mother said even when she knew all that came from her mouth was a lie.

"I didn't know…"

"Yeah well… let's not talk 'bout it anymore. I shouldn't have said anything in the first place." She smiled up at Kurama, her usual humor returning. "So why did you come in here anyways fire crotch, to lecture me like my father?"

Kurama stared at her and she knew he was thinking hard about something. He shook his head and smiled. "Just to see how you were doing, no alternative motive."

Aria smiled her signature toothy grin. "I kicked ass didn't I?"

Kurama chucked. "If you want to put it that way then yes, yes you did."

The final battle Enki reign victorious… again, so Aria had to wait for another five years before the next Makai tournament. From then on she knew no matter what she was going to win the next tournament. She will be old enough to attend without much of a complaint from her father, even after her punishment from attending that years, (which only consisted of a good old fashion yelling and being grounded for an entire month, no Makai, No Mako, no nothing).

When she returned to the human world she planned out her regime for the next five years to grow stronger… as well as attend school and listen to whatever her mother had to say. Her mother rarely spanked her, but when she did Aria never felt a pain worse than her bottom turning red from her mother's palm.

* * *

**Two Years later **_**(Age 13)**_

"THIS IS SO STUPID!" Aria screamed as she ran down the stairs trying her best to button up her blouse. "AHHHH WHY DIDN'T ANYONE WAKE ME UP!"

Keiko popped out of the kitchen and reached her arm out in front of Aria, in her hand was her lunch box. "I tried three times and every time you said you'll be up in a second."

Aria snatched her lunch box and ran toward the door yelling back, "And you believed me?"

She slammed the door behind her and ran down the sidewalk at a normal human speed. Then she remembered something. "Oh yeah," she spoke to herself with annoyance. "Today's career day. Well, looks like I'm skippin'." She didn't want to talk for ten minutes in front of everyone that hates her about what she wants to be when she grows up. Besides, it would all be a lie. She wanted to be the ruler of the Makai that was her future "career".

"Time to go to the arcade!" Aria declared. Then she stopped short when she spotted someone familiar. She went behind the corner to get out of view. It was Miaka. Looked like she wasn't the only one who decided to skip today.

But, there was something off about her. Miaka walked in the opposite direction of the school, her hand placed on her chest clutched in a fist. Her face set determined to get to where she wanted to go. Aria snickered deciding to follow her. She never knew maybe she had some deep dark secret that she could black mail her from ever making fun of her again.

As Miaka walked down the sidewalk Aria followed diligently behind snickering with every footstep. Aria's imagination went wild as she thought about Miaka's dirty little secret. Maybe she had an older, perverted boyfriend in his fifties, or, or, or… she works for the circus as a clown!

Miaka suddenly turned sharply around a corner that Aria knew lead to the dead end. How she knew? She beat the crap out of some high schoolers a couple of days ago down the alley.

She leaned against the building watching around the corner as Miaka stopped. "I Know your there, stop hiding in the shadows," Miaka called out.

Aria almost fell to the ground. How the hell did she know she was following her? She was about to walk into view before she stopped short when she saw two men like figures wearing drench coats actually stepping out of the shadows and blocking her only way out.

"What do you want from me?" Miaka asked with no hint of worry in her voice. Aria had to give her credit, most human girls would be trembling where they stand right about now.

"Now, now my dearie," one said with a slivery voice, his sharp white teeth gleaming in the sun light. "Don't be so hasty with the questions, but if you must know my friend and I couldn't resist the delicious human aroma your little, delicate body was emitting. We couldn't just let something as delicious and desirable as you walk out of our lives now could we Ralph?" He turned his smiling face toward his friend who just viciously shook his head up and down.

What surprised Aria the most was that Miaka was actually smiling. "Well, well boys, looks like you've made me into a damsel in distress. I wonder when my knight in shining armor will gallantly save me from ugly demons like you."

Aria almost fell over, again. Miaka knew instantly who these thugs are. What other secrets does she have?

"But you see," Miaka continued. "I'm not a damsel in distress." She lifted her hand, clutched it into a fist as purple lightening began to crackle from it.

"Holy mother of crap," Aria whispered to herself. "She has powers! Weak, but still."

"That won't help you anyways." The demon walked closer to her, his mouth drooling.

Aria was about to step in but suddenly Miaka runs forward and grabs the arm of the demon electrocuting him from her tough. He screamed and fell to the ground, still fidgeting from the electricity coursing through his body. Miaka lunges as the other demon but he swiftly moved to the side and grabbed her by the elbow twisting her arm around her back. The other demon got up his clothes slightly tinged with dirt and burnings from the electrocuting.

"You little bitch, you're going to pay for that!" Sharp claws appeared in his green hands and he charged for her arm extended.

"Now, now, now, little pathetic, stupid ass demons, why don't you pick on someone of your own species!" Aria yelled at the two, Miaka turning her head to look at her, a little bit of fear stung her eyes. The two demons swiveled their heads and glared at her. "Who the hell are you? Why don't you scram, this has nothing to do with you, we found her first."

Aria smiled. "Well, I am her knight in shining armor after all. It would be cruel punishment if I left her behind to get eaten by weaklings like you."

"Who are you calling weakling little girl!"

"Okay, I'll admit," Aria shrugged her shoulders, her toothy grin gleaming. "You're fag ass weaklings who can only pick on pathetic humans because they are demon enough to go for the stronger ones."

"Fine," The other spoke for the first time, he suddenly opened his mouth and bit into Miaka's shoulder making her cry out in pain. She fell to the ground holding her shoulder in pain. "We'll eat your Halfling ass then we'll devour her."

"What the hell did you do to her? Wait, to tell you the truth I don't really care, she probably deserved it."

"You little…" Miaka began but grunted from pain as her face contorted.

Aria smiled, for once she had the upper hand with Miaka. But now she didn't have time to mock her, she probably didn't have that much time, it looked like the demon had poison in his fangs.

"Ready, brother?" The one who spoke a lot said.

"Of courssssseee."

They both charged at her. All Aria did was roll her eyes and pointed her middle finger at them. "Spirit Gun." In one blast the two were hit and flew into the air and out of sight. Yeah, she was like her father, didn't approve of nonsense killing. She looked over at Miaka who had her mouth open in awe. Aria casually walked over to her and smile. "Yeah, I know, I'm spectacular, stupendous, the most awesomeness person you have ever met in your entire life."

"More like," Miaka began, blinking her eyes uncontrollably as her eyes began to close from her own free will. "The biggest pathetic ningapop I have ever met." She fell over unconscious making Aria huff. She always got the last say in the conversation.

Aria walked over to her and looked at her arm. The poison wasn't anything of concern herself over, something she could sleep off after a couple of days, but she knew that Kurama had the ingredients to cure such a small poison. And the human, sincere part of her knew that she had to cure her soon rather than later.

"Are you sleeping yet?" Aria poked her in the face. "Yep, you're definitely sleeping." She looked around her as if someone may be looking at her. She reached into her book bag and grabbed a non-washable maker. She placed Miaka on her back and lifted up her shirt.

"Muwahahahahahahaha," Aria wickedly laughed to herself as a mischievous face was plastered on her face.

Aria slammed the door open to Kurama's part time flower shop he owned. Other people where there staring at her ridiculous face. Her cheeks were puffed out red, her eyes into two little dots, her lips pursed out. "Suichi!" She yelled, even though he was three feet away. "Everyone get the fuck out, there's going to be hot kinky business going on in here and if you want to see then you are welcome to stay!"

The two older women that were in there, roughly in their sixties, looked at her dumbfounded, their eyes wide open as they looked between Aria and the girl dangling from her back then back to Kurama's.

Kurama (with an anime sweat drop), shook his head and looked at the two older women in apology. "Please excuse my niece, she has turrets."

The two women nodded in understanding and walked out the store without saying another word. While they passed, "Kinky hot sex… cough… cough… cough…" They kept on walking without even looking at her but their eyes were wide open almost like they didn't believe Kurama.

As soon as they left Aria placed Miaka on the ground. "She's been poisoned, but she'll be okay. I knew you have the ingredients to make her better soon than in a couple of days." When Kurama didn't respond, she looked up at him in question. He was staring at Miaka. His eyes seemed distant, deep in thought. "Are you okay?" And just like that he walked over to Miaka and looked at her shoulder.

"This will only take a moment." He stood up and walked over to a desk and pulled out his medicines and demon plants.

Aria sat down cross legged next to Miaka. She stared down at her unconscious form and smiled. She owed her big time now.

And just like that, after she awoken they both made a deal to stop their bickering. Aria even agreed to take her to old fart Genkai, which Aria had no idea how she was still even alive and moving at the moment, to enhance her lightening abilities. In a matter of a year they became somewhat friends, even though they do bicker from time to time about nonsense things.

* * *

**(I'm so, so, so, so, so, very sorry. This whole chapter deleted, again, and I didn't have the heart to write it over. So I almost gave up, but then I got the Microsoft Surface and decided to give it another go. Without any accidental deletions I finally got it finished. The last part about the Miaka shebang was supposed to be in the next chapter, have its own chapter, but I decided to put the two together. The next chapter will be the dark tournament, and yes it will be out sooner rather than later because now I don't have to worry about accidental deletions. Also, Hiei will be in it too, something will happen between the two if you guys review, I am a reviewing whore. Next chapter I will reply to all of your reviews. Also, I disabled anonymous reviews and will only be excepted if I press the yes button. You can still submit them but you won' see them right away. See you next chapter!) **


	8. Chapter Eight: Hot

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Eight: Hot

Aria softly groans as hot, wet kisses trailed down her neck and to her exposed torso. Hands danced at her sides, tracing designs across her wet skin. They slowly moved up, as well as the kisses making its way up her throat and to her lips as his wet tongue slithers into her welcoming lips.

Anther groan.

Her abdomen burned with a hot desire as the man pressed her firm body against hers. She felt every muscle flex making her want more. She opened her eyes, only for a brief second and all she could see was crimson ones staring back at her full of lust and… and…

Aria shot up in bed, sweating and wet… in every possible term. "Damn it!" She huffed, as she turned on her belly and buried her head into her pillow.

The dreams have become more frequent. Ever since the last dark tournament she's been having sex dreams about a certain fire demon. At first, it only happened right before she went into heat, but this last year she's been having the same dream once a week. Damn, she needed to get laid. She doesn't understand why Kujou won't go any further than second/third base. The dreams were almost driving her crazy and the only remedy she could think of was to have hot dirty sex with Kujou.

Why can't her dreams be about him? Instead, they have to be about Hiei. Someone she haven't even talked/seen for three years now, (if you were wondering, the last Makai tournament was four years ago). This just sucked monkey balls.

There was a soft knock at her door then her father opened and peered in. "Good, you're awake." He walked in leaving the door open behind him. "We need to speak, can you come down stairs?" He was being serious, more serious than Aria had seen him in a while. She nodded her head and watched him walk out and back down stairs.

That was strange. She thought for a moment trying to recall anything she may have done that would cause her father to act like this. The only thing she could think of was when she egged Genkai's temple last week, but how could he have found out about that? She was drinking by herself. Besides, the hag had it coming… Making her sleep with snakes for three months straight wasn't something she would called as a pleasant night's rest, (even that didn't get rid of her rather explicit Hiei dreams).

She crawled out of bed, putting on some jeans since all she was wearing was a sports bra, tank top, and underwear. She strutted down stairs rubbing her eyes ad yawning rather loudly. Making sure her father knew how tired she was. But she stopped short when she saw he father, Kurama, Kuwabara, Botan, and older Koenma in her living room. Her mother must have been still sleeping. Probably for the better.

"Who died?" Aria asked as she walked in and sat down next to her father who just ended up smacking her across the back of her head. "What was that for?" She half yelled as she rubbed that back of her head with displeasure.

"For asking stupid questions."

"Hey! If I remember correctly the only stupid questions are the ones not asked!"

Botan intervened, waving her hands in front of her and laughing slightly. "Now, now you two. Let's save the fighting for the tournament."

Yusuke grew serious. He leaned forward with his hands laced together and his chin lying on the two.

"Wait," Aria asked confused. "The Makai Tournament isn't until another year?"

"They are not talking about the Makai, Aria," Kurama said, he was just as serious as her father was. "This is the dark tournament we are dealing with."

Aria looked at everyone confused. "But I thought that Toguro guy killed all of those committee people that put the whole dark tournament together? What, did he miss one or somethin'?"

"There are more humans out there, I'm afraid, that would put such an event together. They don't care about the outcome, all they care for is the profit and nothing more."

"Yes," Koenma cleared his throat making everyone in the room look at him. "And that's why we are going to end it again, but this time for good."

Yusuke crossed his arms, leaned back in his seat while crossing his legs. "And how do you suspect us to do that pacifier breath?"

"Because of my wonderful Koenma-fied plan, of course!" He laughed mischievously as everyone in the room just shook their heads. Except for Aria.

Aria stood up and punched the air in front on her. "Hell yeah, let's go kick some full blood demon ass! It'll be nice to get some practice in before the Makai Tournament!" That made her receive another smack across the head making her fall to the ground face first.

"Why don'tcha first listen to Koenma's insane plan before you start acting like a dumbass in front of everyone!" Yusuke yelled, but then covered his mouth looking toward the ceiling listening to anything moving. After shoving his foot into Aria's face when she got up to protest, he sighed and sat back down.

"Do you guys want to hear my _insane _plan yet?" Koenma said with annoyance. When no one said anything else he continued, "You guys will be fighting in the tournament and, as usual, you will win."

"And?" Yusuke mumbled, expecting the worse. No way in hell he was going to kill humans. Not now, not ever.

"All five of the fighters must wish for the end of the tournament for good."

"That's it?" Aria asked, trying to rub the foot print off her face. "Why did you make us worry then?"

Koenma smiled. "I like to make it dramatic."

This time, Botan smacked Koenma across the head. "I swear you are an idiot!" Then she covered her mouth.

Koenma stood up straight rubbing the lump on his head. "You know I can fire you!"

Creaking could be heard upstairs. "Yusuke?" Keiko called down tiredly.

"Okay, gootta go!" Botan said scooting out with Koenma on her tail.

"Wait," Yusuke whispered walking after them. "When's the tournament starting?"

"In a week."

Yusuke fell over, his feet twitching in the air. He regained his footing and grabbed Koenma by the collar. "And I'm supposed to have my daughter prepared in a week?"

Koenma pried his fingers from his throat. "Precisely, and besides, she did a fabulous job at the last Makai tournament on her own. Since everyone's been training her personally then I'm sure she's more than prepared for the Dark tournament."

Keiko began to walk down the stairs. "What is all the commotion?"

"See you three in a week!" An oar appeared in her hand and she disappeared through the door with Koenma hot on her tail.

"Yusuke? Aria? What are you two doing up this early?" They both turned around and looked at Keiko. Aria glanced around to see where Kurama was hiding but she couldn't find him. That sneaky fox. "You two aren't sleep fighting again?"

Aria almost burst out laughing but held it in and kept her cool. "Of course not mother I was just getting a glass of milk. Had a nightmare last night. What dad is doing… I couldn't tell you, probably sneaking off somewhere again."

Yusuke smacked the back of Aria's head for the third time that night. "Will you stop lying about your father?" He looked at Keiko, the joking and seriousness of a couple of minutes ago gone from his face. "I heard her walking around and investigated. Just had to make sure it wasn't a burglar or anything."

"I see," she looked at the two like she didn't believe them. "Well, whatever you two are really up to just make it quick. I have work tomorrow and don't want to stay up babysitting you two." She walked back up the stairs and out of sight.

Yusuke turned around and faced his daughter. "Aria, you have to make me a promise. If you promise then I'll promise you that I won't complain about you joining my team in the dark tournament."

"Whatever you want, old man." She rubbed the lump on the back of her head with annoyance.

"Promise that when I say something is too dangerous you will listen to me and sit it out." Aria hesitated. Well, that wasn't fair. When he was around her age he had no one to stop him. He always fought anyone he wanted even if they were to strong he would have found a way to win. "Aria, if you don't agree I'll find someone else to take your place and you'll be stuck here studying for your next exam."

Aria huffed and crossed her arms, her eyes rolling. "Fine old man, I'll listen to you, don't start making hasty decisions now."

Her father smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder. "But I wouldn't doubt that in the near future you won't have to have me watching over you. You're stronger than what I was when I was your age."

Aria couldn't help by smile. "You know it. At the next Makai tournament I'm going to kick your ass."

They both laughed, neither one of them not knowing the destruction the future had to hold for the both of them.

* * *

**One week later **

Kurama, Kujou, and even Hiei awaited for Yusuke and Aria to arrive. Just like old times, Yusuke was late again, and it seemed that Aria was following in his footsteps. The demons around them drooled as they looked at the two only humans in the vicinity, Kurama and Kuwabara.

"Doesn't this bring back old memories," Kuwabara said obnoxiously. "These smelly demons are giving me a head ache, and to think I could have been hanging out with Yukina today. Instead, I had to be here babysitting."

"You are moronic as ever. I thought humans are supposed to grow wiser as they age." Hiei butted in, glaring at the big buffoon.

"Hey you little…" But stop short. Okay, yeah, he was still shorter than him… but he's grown over the years. He's about 5'10"… maybe a little shorter. Doesn't matter, he was still taller than him. "You little shrimp you."

"Oh yes, I feel absolutely depraved."

"That's it shorty…" Kuwabara rolled up his sleeves and stomped over at the fire demon.

Kurama shook his head but quietly laughed to himself. At least the bickering hasn't changed. Even Hiei seemed to be getting back to his old self again.

"Do they always act like this?" Kujou asked as he stared at the two. Kuwabara tried with all his might to punch Hiei but Hiei easily adverted his every punch.

"I'm afraid so, but I will have to admit that I do miss their bickering. Remind me of the good old days."

There was rustling in the bushes, then something flew out of the brush and into the middle of their little circle. The only one startled was Kuwabara who had his fists up ready to fight. "HAHHAAHA," Aria laughed, her face turning red. "I beat you old man!?"

Yusuke came flying out landing next to Aria. He grabbed her into a headlock and began to run his fist through her hair. "You just got lucky, that's all!"

"Nice to see you two made it on time," Kurama chuckled.

Yusuke finally let go of Aria and smiled. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Woah! Yusuke!" Kuwabara said staring at his daughter. "Is it just me or did she grow a couple more inches since I last seen her, and…" His eyes shifted toward her chest his face turning into a goofy grin. "Is it just me or does your daughter have a figure?"

Yusuke punched Kuwabara flat on his back and by the look of it he had lost a few teeth. "What were you saying about my daughter?"

Aria looked down at her body and patted her boobs. "Really? I didn't notice?" She looked up at everyone. Her father was still beating the crap out of Kuwabara, Kurama was watching with amusement, and Kujou… was looking at her. Her cheeks slightly blushed. It's been a couple of months since she last saw Kujou, she wondered if he thought the same.

Her eyes happened to shift over toward Hiei's. He was now leaning against a tree his eyes staring into hers with a distant look. Her cheeks flushed a red as her dreams began to plague her mind. She felt her gut growing hot… something she didn't understand. Soon, Hiei's eyes grew wide, like he realized something and looked away from her glaring daggers at the tree next to him.

She felt someone lightly touch her shoulder. She looked to the person in front of her and smiled. "Kujou…" She said breathlessly.

"You look nice today, I haven't seen you in this outfit before."

Aria looked down at herself. This was an outfit her mother sewn for her… well, at least the shirt. She was wearing regular dark blue fighting pants, but her shirt was much like a corset, yellow and made of a thick fabric that hung to her skin tightly and zipped up in the back. Her mother made her a couple, just in case one got torn or destroyed, (once she and her father convinced her mother to let her go to the dark tournament she made her this outfit). It was made of a thick fabric so it would be hard to be torn. But, this was the dark tournament after all…

"Your hair has grown too, it now reaches down to your mid-back, even with it being tied up."

Aria blushed more. "Thank you Kujou."

He smiled down at her, his thumb slightly caressing her shoulder, but he soon let her go once Yusuke began to speak to the group.

"Alright everyone, ready for the cruise to our second victory."

Everyone nodded. Aria jumped up and down with excitement. "Can't wait!"

* * *

**(WOOHOO, chapter eight! But I'm a little disappointed, no reviews. *Cries silently in corner* I guess that's what I get, though, for letting you guys hang on for so long, if you are still hanging on of course. Of course, the last chapter wasn't that glamorous anyway, just to get things moving along. But now Hiei is back and why was he staring at Aria? I guess you'll just have to find out next chapter! Please review, I have some Hiei and Aria time planned in the next chapter! Sorry for this chapter being so hasty. Also, I changed the rating because of little things in this chapter as well as steamy stuff happening in next chapter.)**


	9. Chapter Nine: Unwilling

_Crossing Oceans_

Chapter Nine: Unwilling

"All Aboard!" The ship captain yelled. Spit flew from his mouth and landed on his black beard. Aria stuck her tongue out in disgust. Some demons can be disgusting. She waited for his to wipe the drool from his beard but he did no such think causing Aria to stick her tongue out again.

The ship was crowded with demons, each talking nonsense about how they were going to be the victors of the world tournament, all not paying in the least bit of attention the their team. They must not recognize the last reigning team. This, made Aria smile. Maybe when they get to the fighting they would charge after her since she looks to be the weakest.

"Their fools to think they are going to get off this ship in one piece," Hiei seethed in his normal angry voice.

"Whatever," Aria snickered she watch the demons around her that heard Hiei speak glare at him and her. "It'll still be fun to kick all of their asses."

Yusuke walked over to his daughter and placed his arm around her shoulder. "Don't get too excited now, save your strength for the first match."

Aria smiled up at her father. "This will only be a warm up. Besides, not one of these demons are anywhere close to Kuwabara's level."

"Hey!" Kuwabara's annoying voice said with distaste. "Why are you referring to me like I'm a weakling or something? Don't forget that I have years of fighting on my belt than yours."

Aria stuck her tongue out toward Kuwabara. "Because you are the weakest, that's why you are our backup just in case one of us five dies."

"Hey, I didn't agree to be the backup because I thought I was weak! Someone had to watch the girls as they sat in the stands helpless!"

Before Aria could say another word then book began to slightly shake and in the middle a stadium began to rise. The ship captain's voice rang over the speakers. "As you all should know, there can only be one team that's allowed to leave off this here boat. And since I'm the captain of this here boat, I've decided to have a lil' match to determine which team makes it to the dark tournament stadiums."

"Tsh," Yusuke began. "They did the exact same thing the last time we were here. He didn't decide on nothing."

"Hey UGLY!" Aria voice roared over the distress the demon teams made after the declaration. "You know that even if there was a victor of this little fight you want to brew up that not one of these filthy demons are going to go along with your rules. Let's skip the preliminaries and get to the slaughter!"

"Uh, Yusuke," Kuwabara whispered in Yusuke's ear. "She's really asking for it."

Yusuke scratched his head and laughed with discomfort. "Yeah, well, she get's that from her mother."

Kuwabara looked at his friend from the corner of his eyes and said rather sarcastically. "Yeah, sure she did."

All the demons circled Aria, their anger present on their ugly faces. "Who you calling ugly, shorty? A human such as yourself shouldn't be talking crap, especially with hungry demons such as ourselves around to set you right."

Aria smiled wickedly. "Hey now, I'm a half demon." She bent her knees and stood in her fighting pose with one hand in front of her the other behind. "And I can talk crap all I want to weakling like yourselves."

"You're going to pay for that!" A demon lunged toward her, but the only contact he got was her fist in his face which made him fly backwards off the boat and into the water.

The demons all attacked team Urameshi with Aria laughing her ass off with every punch she threw. Kurama already had his rose whip out and sliced through the weak demons with ease. Kuwabara punched his way through the demons, not as effective as Aria's, but it still got the job done. Yusuke, on the other hand, danced through the crowd of demons not even breaking a sweat. His hits were precise and they didn't take much effort to get the result he was looking for.

Kujuo as well punching his way through the crowd as he slowly made his way to Aria. When he caught sight of her he couldn't help but watch her move almost as swiftly as her father through the crowd of demons that wanted to tear her throat out. She was also smiling, fighting always made her happy. It was like she was born to be a fighter. "Having fun, little mouse?"

Aria punched another team square in the jaw as teeth went flying through the air. She looked up at Kujou and smiled. "Do you have to ask?"

She stepped in front of him, placed her hand near her hip as it began to glow a light blue light. "Shotgun blast!" The demons that was all in her range flew overboard and out of sight. She loved using that technique in a large crowd.

There was only a handful of demons left. They just stood there and looked at the six. Their eyes shifted from them to the unconscious demons on the ground. "I-I don't want to fight anymore." One stammered and feel to his knees in defeat. "I give up. You win."

Aria placed both hands on her hips. Her lip jutted out in disappointment. "And I thought that was going to be a little bit more exciting."

"At least we got the boring part out of the way…" Yusuke said, then he stopped short placing his hand on his chin. "How come I don't remember this part of the mission anyway?"

Kuama began to laugh as Kuwabara took a step forward. He looked pretty peeved. "Hey dumbass, you were so tired from Genkai's training your passed out cold on the way to the tournament, remember? You didn't wake up until your match against Chu."

"Oh yeah," Yusuke smiled with his hands on his hips, oblivious to everything around him. "Now I remember."

Kuwabara just sighed to himself in defeat. But he smiled nonetheless. Yes, his friend was a complete idiot at times but it was starting to feel like old times. In actuality, he was starting to miss the crazy missions he had with his old pale. And now he had the chance to do it all over again, and this time they had another player on their team. Kuwabara glanced over at Aria. She had grown quite a bit. It seemed every time he saw her she had grown another inch. She's turning out to be a fine young lady. Actually, she was turning out to be just like her father. A loving…

"Come on, when are the real fighting going to begin?" Aria whined. And just like that the magic was gone.

"Don't worry short cake," Yusuke said as he looked off to the far away distance where the island was in sight. "You'll get your wish soon enough. Just remember what you promised me, okay?" Aria nodded and looked off toward the distance as well. Her eyes becoming distant as thoughts arouse about the upcoming battles. She was going to grow stronger. Besides her little affection for Kujou, all she wanted was power and to grow stronger. That's really all she knew, even when she was little all she wanted was to grow stronger than her father.

As she looked at the far away distance, dark crimson eyes glared toward her, wondering why someone as idiotic as her would plague his mind as well as his dreams.

* * *

Aria watched from every aspect possible as she and her team walked through the hotel main lobby. Rich humans chatted amongst themselves about nonsense Aria could really care less about. As they made their way through, out of nowhere a butler looking guy with a weird mustache stood in their way. Aria eyed him suspiciously but she didn't say anything.

"Hello gentlemen," his eyes slide over to Aria and said rather snidely, "And… lady, if you follow me over to the elevator I'll take you to where you will be staying for the remainder of the tournament." And like that, he turned around and walked away. Without hesitation, everyone followed him.

The elevator ride was awkward and quiet, Aria was almost about to go crazy if someone didn't say something, this was worse than sitting through a lecture at school, but before she could explode the doors slide open and the butler creep walked out and down the hallway. He stopped at a door and turned his attention back toward the group. "Here's your room. Your other quests have already arrived and are waiting for you."

"Other guests?" Yusuke questioned, but before anyone could question further the door flew open and a blue headed lady popped out, eyes blinking at the group before her.

"Hello everyone!" She beamed. Yusuke and Aria fell over with exasperation.

"How the hell did you arrive here already?" Yusuke yelled, waving his fist in front of him.

"Well," she began, her finger pointing in the air. "We took a helicopter."

"We?"

And just like that two others poked their heads out of the room. "Yukina!" Kuwabara yelled excitedly as he ran toward the jade hair girl. He grabbed the girls' hands, a huge, goofy smile plastered on his face. He looked at the other figure next to Yukina, his smiling disappearing from his face. "And Shizuru…"

"Is that all you can say to your older sister, brat?" She had a wine glass in her hand, as she spoke the red liquid swirled around almost like it had a direct link to her feelings.

"Yeah, well…"

"Shizuru!" Aria ran over to her and stopped short. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Hey kiddo, how you been… Is it just me or have you grown a couple of inches…" Her eyes then shifted to her chest. "And looks like your woman hood is finally catching up as well."

Kuwabara laughed. "That's what I said!" And with that, Shizuru smashed her fist into his head.

"And why were you looking, little bro?" Kuwabara fell fast first into the ground with a toothless grin. Yukina looked down at him in worry. Shizuru ignored her brother and turned her attention back to Aria. "Hey, how did you convince your mom to let you attend a tournament that threatens your life?"

Aria scratched her head with a nervous smile. "Well, um… about that."

Yusuke suddenly appeared behind her, his arms crossed, casting a shadow over Aria. "Yeah, she seemed pretty cheery when we left." Aria laughed and began to inch her way away from the two but Yusuke grabbed her collar stopping her in her tracks.

"Okay, okay, okay, I'll tell you… I told her I was attending a martial arts tournament in America… then she asked me if just humans were attending and I said yes." When her father glared down at her she smiled sheepishly. "I didn't totally lie to her."

Yusuke smacked his face, a red mark left in its place when it slowly slide down to his chin. "Well, at least she doesn't have to worry."

"See," Aria said cheerfully, like she actually thought it through. "Everything turned out for the better."

Yusuke could have sworn the room they were in was the exact same room they were in before. The table was in the center with two sofas on both sides. Even the rooms where in the exact same spot, as well as the view. "Yes it is, carrot head!" Yusuke argued back at Kuwabara.

"No it's not! I distinctly remember, we were on the fourth floor not the sixth!"

Aria watched with amusement as the two old friends bickered with one another. But she soon felt discomfort, like someone was staring a hole into her. In fact, as she turned her head to the left. There was someone indeed staring at her, or more like glaring daggers at her. Hiei was leaning against the wall next to the window; when they first walked into the room and he leaned against the wall near the window Yusuke teased him saying he was too tall to fit into the window sill, that now he can't look out at the landscape in a way to ignore everyone in the room. But this time, he didn't look away from her. Actually, his glare deepened, if that was even possible. All she could see was the black pupil of his eyes, even the color was covered by his gorgeous eyelids… Aria shook her head a glared at him back. She lifted her finger to her face like she was itching something and stuck her middle finger out at him. Who the hell does he think he is to just go around glaring at her for no reason at all?

"Is there something wrong, Aria?" Kujou asked, eyeing her suspiciously and then glancing over at Hiei.

"Well, I was thinking of taking a walk and checking out the landscape, maybe there's a pond somewhere that I can relax at." She stood up and walked over to the door but was stopped before she could reach the doorknob.

Yusuke stood up and began to speak. "I don't feel comfortable with you going out alone."

She gave her father a knowing look. "Come on dad, what could happen to me? It's not like I can take care of myself."

"I still don't want you…"

"Dad," she smiled reassuringly. "I'll be back before sun down, I won't go far, I promise."

He didn't say anything more. He watched her walk out then sighed and sat back down. He looked back at everyone who went back talking about whatever they were originally talking about but noticed that Hiei as well left the room, too.

Aria walked through the woods. They reminded her so much of Genkai's woods. She wondered what the old coot was doing. Probably changing her old granny dippers or something nasty like that. Jeesh, she was getting old.

As she walked a black figure jumped from one tree to another, following her as she went along. Aria glanced up at the trees and smiled. Okay, if he wanted to play follow the leader she could play that with ease. And with that, she took off, running through the woods with Hiei hot on her trail.

She dodged through the trees with ease, leaving behind after images of herself to hopefully throw Hiei off, but he wasn't easily fooled. He was, after all, the king of afterimages. As the chase continued Aria began to realize she couldn't outrun the master of speed and agility. So she decided a different tactic.

She stopped hot on her heels, bent her legs and jumped toward the next spot she knew Hiei was going to land. A black figured emerged on the branch she was headed, red crimson eyes grew wide as she was now in his face, her foot kicking forward toward his chin but he was quicker, swiping her leg away with his right arm, but her other foot soon followed, but to no prevail. He grabbed her by the ankle pulled her toward him and his palm making contact with the middle of her chest, the force making her lose her breath. She flew backwards, her back skidding against the ground but she put her hand out to the ground flipping herself and skidding to a halt with her heels.

Hiei appeared in front of her, sword in hand and without hesitation swung it towards her neck. She flipped backwards, kicking his sword out his hand watching it fly through the air. She lunged for it and caught it, bring it to her side as she stood up. Hiei looked at her with amusement and he finally spoke. "Do you even know how to use that weapon?"

She tilted the sword toward her as she looked down at it. Her hand lightly touching it with her fingertips. "I've trained with many weapons. Spears, guns, whips, and even swords. Am I good at wielding a sword? Let's make you the judge of that." She sprung forward pointing the sword toward his stomach in an attempt to stab him, but he disappeared. She stopped and spun around, letting the sword swing with her and Hiei appeared behind her in which he ducted out of the way.

Aria couldn't help but think he was playing with her.

He grabbed her by the wrist, twisting it, making her let the sword drop to the ground. She kicked at his left foot making him step back, but in doing so Aria brought her left fist up into an uppercut making contact with his chin. He let her wrist go and took a step back away from her reach. Aria stood in her fighting stance and smiled with cockiness. Hiei sneered, wiping the blood from his lips and then disappeared. Aria whipped around but Hiei was too fast, obviously done toying with her. He grabbed her by the waist, placed his foot in front of both of hers and tripped her, using his own body to make sure she falls to the ground.

She landed on her face and stomach, both of her arms pinned behind her. He had both of his legs on either side of her, straddling her, making sure she doesn't try anything else. She struggle against his grip but she knew better, she was obviously at the disadvantage. She shouldn't have gotten cocky. He smiled down at her triumphantly, his own cockiness showing.

"Fine! What the hell do you want from me?"

At first he didn't say anything. Aria turned her head around to look at him but couldn't see his expression before he changed it into a sneer. "What did Mukuro tell you the night she died?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "After all this time you still want to know?" When he didn't respond she snickered. "Why should I tell you?"

Somehow he had his sword in his hand in which Aria became puzzled, but didn't wonder on it for too long. He brought the tip of the sword to her chin lifting it up ever so gently. "If you don't tell me I'll slit your throat."

Aria chuckled once more. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Why would you kill your best friends' daughter? And if you kill me, stupid, you won't ever find out Mukuro's dying wish."

"Wish?"

Aria realized she said too much but kept acted like it was nothing. "Do it then, I dare you."

Hiei glared down at her. He shook his head and got off of her, returning its sword into its sheath. And just like that he turned away and began to walk. He was about to disappear, but Aria grabbed his arm before he could do so. "Wait, I have a proposition." Hiei turned around, eyebrow raised. Aria smiled and continued, "If you train me to wield the Dragon of The Darkness flame, I'll tell you what Mukuro asked of me."

Hiei did his genuine sneer. "You wouldn't survive."

Aria just continued to smile, not caring. "Why do you care? Besides, this is your only opportunity to find out the truth, if I were you I would take it."

Hiei, of course, didn't say anything. He then scuffed and nodded his head. "Fine. But don't think I'll be responsible for your wellbeing."

Aria nodded her head. She let go of his elbow with a slight blush once she realized she was still holding on to him. He gave her one last look and disappeared. Aria was still blushing, she felt strange. She didn't quite understand what she was feeling at the moment and wondered if Hiei was feeling the same as she did. In the back of her mind she couldn't help but think he was too.

Hopefully tonight she wouldn't have any sexy dreams about the fire demon. She had enough of those dreams.

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**(Woohoo, chapter nine finished. And on to the reviews!**

**Kagome141414 – You betcha, a lot of fun stuff about to happen. Yep, she is indeed fifteen now, ;).**

**Kungfupandabear – Hopefully some of your questions have been answered. Four years have passed since the last Makai Tournament and a lot of stuff can happen between. I will be making flashbacks, muwahahahahaha.**

**Nani San – I'm glad you haven't forgotten this story. I'm also ecstatic that you think it's one of the best. I hope I don't ever ruin it though, -.-. Tell me if I do, ;). **

**Remember, I'm a review whore! REVIEW!)**


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